At fast food restaurants, e.g. McDonald’s, customer flow through the drive-through lane has been highly studied, documented, and refined. What I mean is… when a car drives over a sensor at the start of the lane, the expectation is that the customer is greeted within X seconds, the order is placed within another Y seconds, payment is transacted Z seconds later, the food is delivered in another A, and the car drives away B seconds after that. Of course the merchant wants to maximize the volume of sales, which means getting the most cars through as fast as possible, which is why these things were studied in the first place – to work out the most efficient methods for doing this. (Also, I suspect, as a personnel evaluation tool, to see which managers / shifts / employees are better (faster) than others.)
My question is – have they done the same thing with walk-in customers? If so… how?
My understanding is that the reason the drive-through lane lends itself to such scrutiny is that it is possible to accurately define the “start” time, i.e. when the car rolls over the sensor. Is it possible to accurately define the “start” time when a customer walks through the door? How?
The reason I ask is this: about once (sometimes twice) per week I eat at the same McDonald’s franchise. My strategy is to cruise slowly past the front window, look in and see how many people are in line, then look at the drive-through line, and then go to whichever is shorter. However, I’ve noticed that there can be many fewer people in line in the lobby than there are cars at the drive-through, but the drive-through line seems to move much faster.
The configuration of this particular McD’s lends itself to making this comparison. I gauge it by looking at the last car in line, then I can see when that car rolls away (past the windows on one side of the restaurant). I judge who pulls away with their food first, me (at the counter) or the car (in the drive-through). By my admittedly un-scientific and anecdotal “evidence”, it appears that the drive-through customers are served much more quickly than lobby customers. There can be two in line inside and six cars in the drive-through, but I swear I see that sixth car pulling away the same time I’m getting my food at the counter.
Which made me think: what would account for this apparent discrepancy? I concluded that if service time at the drive-through is scrutinized, timed, calculated, regulated, and recorded, but service time in the lobby is not, that would explain why the manager and crew devote more time to serving the drive-through. (Literally, their jobs might depend on it.)
So… is there any validity to my observations? My conclusion? If so, or if not, why so or why not?
Many thanks.