By Courtesy of McDonald's
Since the start of the pandemic and its series of lockdown measures, American fast food giants have been experimenting with different approaches to rethinking the drive-through. The goal is to serve customers as quickly as possible. Among the solutions being explored and tested in the United States, are a conveyor belt system and a new-generation dumbwaiter.
Since the start of the pandemic and its series of lockdown measures, American fast food giants have been experimenting with different approaches to rethinking the drive-through. The goal is to serve customers as quickly as possible. Among the solutions being explored and tested in the United States, are a conveyor belt system and a new-generation dumbwaiter.
Invented in the 1940s in the United States, the concept of the "drive-through" (or "drive-thru," which consists of picking up your meal (or coffee, or dessert or groceries or even doing your banking now) without getting out of your car, has become a hugely popular mode of purchase and delivery, which, during pandemic lockdowns, made its way even further into retail shopping habits -- order something online and pick it up in your car. But its principal use remains in the restaurant milieu. While speed of service was, in the past, touted as one of the reasons for not placing one's meal order inside a restaurant itself, these days, the queue of a fast food drive thru at peak times (i.e., at lunch or dinner), isn't necessarily a faster way to get one's order. With take-out meals getting a boost in popularity since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the logistics of such services are undergoing profound updates in the United States. The overall aim is to reduce wait times for customers.
Just a few days ago, McDonald's revealed a new-style test restaurant, which may give us a glimpse at what the chain's future restaurants will be like. Located in Fort Worth, Texas, the fast food giant invites customers to order their Big Mac via the app. When it's the designated pickup time, customers should not only expect their fries to still be hot, but also that they won't have to wait for their order or interact with a person to get it. Indeed with the app, staff should be alerted when the customer is getting close in order to start prepping the food. After an order number is identified, the order gets placed into a conveyor belt system, which delivers it to the customer. For the moment, this concept is a one-off among McDonald's restaurants and for the time being is only an experiment.
This service-oriented test is part of a wide range of innovations launched in recent months by various players in the fast food industry to serve burger fans more seamlessly and efficiently. While Subway unveiled plans to sell its sandwiches in a vending machine in mid-November, after an experiment conducted at the University of California in San Diego, American chain Taco Bell attracted buzz this past summer with its presentation of a totally futuristic drive-thru concept. The taco order seemingly arrives from the sky, via a new-style dumbwaiter that resembles something straight out of a "Matrix" movie. The test was launched in the suburbs of Minneapolis and revolves around a little food elevator that sends orders from the second floor of a restaurant where the kitchens are located. For this American fast-food giant, the clearly stated objective is to reduce average waiting time at the drive-through from 4.5 minutes to 2 minutes.
With take-out sales booming, fast-food players are testing a slew of new concepts to solve one common problem: reducing the queue. At Burger King, back in September 2020, customers were encouraged to order via the app before scanning a QR code in the parking lot to signal their arrival on site. Some establishments such as Wingstop, Chipotle and Tim Hortons have even gone as far as eliminating dining space entirely to focus solely on takeout.
