Drive-thrus are all screwed up. Here's what it'll take to fix them Late this summer, drive-thru times slowed by about 26 seconds compared to last year, according to a study. That may not seem like much — but in the world of fast food, every moment counts.
"Mere seconds can be a make-it or break-it in terms of where a consumer decides to order from," Amanda Topper, a research director at the research firm Mintel, said of the slowdowns. The data is from SeeLevelHX, which tracked drive-thru times at about 1,500 US restaurants across 10 major chains from July 5 to August 6.
A speedier drive-thru can "be a competitive advantage," Topper said, while long lines may discourage customers from stopping in. Most Americans who eat at fast food restaurants use the drive-thru, she noted — and the option has become even more popular during the pandemic, when many customers felt safer in their cars than restaurants.
So far, the habit has stuck. A Technomic consumer survey found about 52% of quick-service restaurant orders were placed in drive-thrus in August 2021, compared to about 42% in January 2020.
In the highly competitive fast food space, increased demand through any channel is a win. Restaurants don't want to lose ground by giving up any potential drive-thru sales, yet they also can't overwhelm their systems and risk losing customers.
To solve that problem, fast food chains are chasing multiple solutions, many of which are about more: more lanes, more pickup options and more technology.
How drive-thrus got bogged down
Restaurant staffing is the main cause for drive-thru delays. "Labor is at the heart of a lot of the big challenges that ... restaurants are facing right now," said David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic.
Restaurants and bars were short about 800,000 jobs as of October compared to February 2020, before the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association. Workers have been leaving in droves, with the quit rate for accommodation and food services hitting 6.6% in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -— more than double the overall 3% average.
And the pandemic-fueled push to drive-thru, delivery and pickup has created a cycle: With workers scrambling to fill those off-premise orders, customers inside the restaurants may become frustrated — and turn to the drive-thru instead.
"You're sitting there waiting in line, and meanwhile all the drive-thru orders are getting filled, the takeout orders are getting filled," Henkes said. Until the labor situation eases, restaurants are "diverting their resources where they're going to be most effectively used. For a lot of quick-service-restaurants, that's the drive-thru."
Some staff-strapped restaurants are opting to keep dining rooms closed entirely. But even if they add more employees to the drive-thru staff, there's tremendous pressure on that channel.
At Wendy's (WEN), for example, staffing challenges meant "we had more dining rooms closed during the third quarter on average than we did during the second quarter," CEO Todd Penegor said in a recent analyst call. "One of the big keys for us is to get our dining rooms open to really support taking pressure off the drive-thru and support our digital business moving forward."
Meanwhile, there's even a challenge with the staff restaurants have managed to maintain. Turmoil in the industry means more turnover, which means less experienced workers. "If you have an employee who has been with you for a year, they're much more efficient ... than the person who you hired three weeks ago," said Peter Saleh, restaurant analyst with BTIG.
Larger orders, another pandemic trend, only exacerbate the situation, Saleh noted. Some restaurant chains said although traffic may have slowed during the crisis, the average check size went up. That's partially due to price hikes, but also because people placed larger orders for families or groups eating together at home.
Order ahead, double lanes and artificial intelligence
It's not clear when, or even if, the labor pool for restaurants will grow. So restaurants are turning to other solutions.
Earlier this week, KFC announced a drive-thru alternative called Quick Pick-Up. Customers order ahead through the KFC app or website, drive to a KFC location and park in a dedicated spot, and then walk into the restaurant to pick up their food from a shelf near the register. In its announcement KFC encouraged customers to choose pickup over drive-thru.
This isn't a new, pandemic-era idea: Fast casual chains such as Sweetgreen and Chipotle (CMG) have long featured pickup shelves. Last year, McDonald's said that it was testing express lines and dedicated pickup spots for customers who placed digital orders. Burger King also unveiled new restaurant designs last year with similar spots and walk-up order windows.
Order-ahead not only takes some pressure off the drive-thru window but also encourages people to order through an app — an important way for fast food chains to build loyalty with rewards and exclusive offers, and learn more about their customers.
Still, fast food has always been about convenience, so adding another step might not appeal to every diner. So several chains are leaning into the drive-thru.
Burger King is building prototypes with more drive-thru lanes. McDonald's (MCD) and others are experimenting with automated voice technology that can take customer orders.
McDonald's has been testing automated order taking at several US drive-thrus, CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts during an October call. He said the efforts "have shown substantial benefits to customers and the crew experience." McDonald's drive-thru times in major markets have shortened an average of about 30 seconds over the past two years, according to the company.
In other drive-thru initiatives, last year Restaurant Brands International (QSR) — which owns Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons — announced it will roll out digital menu screens with contactless payments by mid-2022. And Wendy's (WEN) recently announced a partnership with Google (GOOG) to give it access to AI and other tech that can help improve ordering at the drive-thru.
Drive-thus都搞砸了。这是修复它们所需要的
根据一项研究，今年夏末，得来速的时间与去年相比减少了约 26 秒。这可能看起来不多——但在快餐世界里，每一刻都很重要。
“就消费者决定从哪里订购而言，仅仅几秒钟就可能成败，”研究公司 Mintel 的研究主管阿曼达·托珀 (Amanda Topper) 在谈到经济放缓时说。数据来自 SeeLevelHX，它跟踪了 7 月 5 日至 8 月 6 日期间 10 家主要连锁店的约 1,500 家美国餐厅的得来速。
更快的得来速可以“成为一种竞争优势”，托珀说，而排长队可能会阻止顾客停下来。她指出，大多数在快餐店用餐的美国人都使用得来速——而且这种选择已经变得更多在大流行期间很受欢迎，当时许多顾客觉得他们的车比餐馆更安全。
到目前为止，这个习惯一直存在。 Technomic 消费者调查发现，2021 年 8 月约有 52% 的快餐店订单是通过得来速下达的，而 2020 年 1 月约为 42%。
在竞争激烈的快餐领域，通过任何渠道增加需求都是一种胜利。餐馆不想因为放弃任何潜在的得来速销售而失去市场，但他们也不能压倒他们的系统并冒失去客户的风险。
为了解决这个问题，快餐连锁店正在寻求多种解决方案，其中许多解决方案都涉及更多：更多的车道、更多的取货选择和更多的技术。
免下车如何陷入困境
餐厅人员配备是得来速延迟的主要原因。 Technomic 高级负责人戴维·亨克斯 (David Henkes) 表示：“劳工是……餐馆现在面临的许多重大挑战的核心。”
根据美国全国餐馆协会的数据，与大流行之前的 2020 年 2 月相比，截至 10 月，餐馆和酒吧缺少约 800,000 个工作岗位。根据美国劳工统计局的数据，9 月份住宿和餐饮服务的离职率达到 6.6%，是整体平均水平 3% 的两倍多。
大流行推动的得来速、送货和取货创造了一个循环：随着工人争先恐后地完成这些场外订单，餐厅内的顾客可能会感到沮丧——转而转向得来速。
“你坐在那里排队，与此同时，所有得来速订单都被填满，外卖订单也被填满，”亨克斯说。在劳动力状况缓解之前，餐馆正在“将资源转移到最有效利用的地方。对于许多快速服务的餐馆来说，这就是得来速。”
一些员工短缺的餐厅选择让餐厅完全关闭。但即使他们在得来速员工中增加了更多员工，该渠道也会面临巨大压力。
例如，Wendy's (WEN) 的首席执行官 Todd Penegor 在最近的一次分析师电话会议上表示，员工面临的挑战意味着“我们在第三季度平均关闭的餐厅比第二季度多”。 “对我们来说，其中一个重要的关键是让我们的餐厅开放，以真正支持减轻免下车压力并支持我们的数字业务向前发展。”
与此同时，餐厅设法维持的员工甚至是一个挑战。行业的动荡意味着更多的人员流动，这意味着经验不足的工人。 BTIG 餐厅分析师彼得·萨利赫 (Peter Saleh) 表示：“如果你的员工已经在你身边工作了一年，那么他们的效率会更高……比你三周前雇佣的那个人要高得多。”
萨利赫指出，更大的订单是另一种流行趋势，只会加剧这种情况。一些连锁餐厅表示，尽管在危机期间客流量可能有所放缓，但平均支票金额却有所增加。这部分是由于价格上涨，但也因为人们为家庭或团体在家里一起吃饭下了更大的订单。
提前订购、双车道和人工智能
目前尚不清楚餐厅的劳动力储备何时或是否会增长。因此，餐馆正在转向其他解决方案。
本周早些时候，肯德基宣布了一种名为 Quick Pick-Up 的免下车替代方案。顾客通过肯德基应用程序或网站提前订购，开车到肯德基地点并停在专用位置，然后走进餐厅，从收银台附近的架子上取食物。肯德基在其公告中鼓励顾客选择自取而不是得来速。
这不是一个大流行时代的新想法：Sweetgreen 和 Chipotle (CMG) 等快速休闲连锁店长期以来一直以皮卡货架为特色。去年，麦当劳表示，它正在为下达数字订单的客户测试快递线路和专用取货点。汉堡王去年还推出了新的餐厅设计，具有类似的位置和无电梯点餐窗口。
提前订购不仅减轻了得来速窗口的压力，还鼓励人们通过应用程序订购——这是快餐连锁店通过奖励和独家优惠建立忠诚度并了解更多客户信息的重要方式。
尽管如此，快餐一直都是为了方便，所以增加一个步骤可能不会对每个用餐者都有吸引力。因此，有几条连锁店倾向于直通车。
汉堡王正在建造具有更多得来速车道的原型。麦当劳 (MCD) 和其他公司正在试验可以接受客户订单的自动语音技术。
麦当劳首席执行官 Chris Kempczinski 在 10 月的一次电话会议上告诉分析师，麦当劳一直在测试在美国的几家得来速餐厅自动接单。他说，这些努力“为客户和船员体验带来了巨大的好处”。据该公司称，过去两年，麦当劳在主要市场的得来速平均缩短了约 30 秒。
在其他免下车计划中，去年拥有汉堡王、大力水手和蒂姆霍顿的国际餐厅品牌 (QSR) 宣布将在 2022 年中期推出具有非接触式支付功能的数字菜单屏幕。 Wendy's (WEN) 最近宣布与谷歌 (GOOG) 建立合作伙伴关系，使其可以使用人工智能和其他技术，以帮助改善免下车订购。
