There are (at least) three reasons restaurant drive-throughs suck:
They take longer. I just picked up lunch at a local fast food place. There was a black Explorer third in line at the drive-through. I walked in, placed my order, waited a couple of minutes and was handed my order. On the way out, I noticed the black Explorer was now second in line.
They waste fuel and create needless greenhouse gases. How can anyone with two working legs (and no kids strapped into the back) justify burning all that gas while they’re just sitting there, idling? I’m no green warrior myself but this is about the most pointless anti-environmental activity I can imagine. I mean, what’s the trade-off?
They’re a perfect metaphor for the decline of American civilization. Okay, this may a stretch, but ISTM that people wasting time and destroying the environment because they’re just too fucking lazy to walk into a restaurant is a pretty good parallel for all the other ways we undermine ourselves by being way too comfortable in our settings and far too easily satisfied by immediate gratification.
I’ve found the restaurants tend to prioritize the drive-through service, perhaps because they care very much if cars are backed up into the street, but not at all if people are lined up out the doors.
By the way, pants are very much required, the window cashier thanks you graciously.
I support this pitting, I used to try to beat the car queue by dashing inside if I found the counter area was clear.
Now I skip the anxiety using a mobile app. I park, relax and soon my order appears at my window. I usually get out of the lot faster than the person I would’ve been behind if I joined the queue.
That certainly happens sometimes, but it generally does not match my experience at most places. The drive-through and the inside line on average move at about the same pace.
There’s also some ableism going on here. Lots of people can’t as easily get out of their car and go into the restaurant. People with mobility issues, people with small children in carseats (who might be sleeping). A lot of things that are used as indulgent luxuries for single able-bodied individuals approach basic necessities for many.
During the last 15 months, I sure was happy not to have to share fast food restaurant lobby air with everyone else picking up food.
I usually forgo the drive through. Mostly because if I go inside, I can fill my own soda cup. I don’t want a lot of ice, I hate paying for a cup full of ice with some soda wetting it down. I want a cup of soda, durnit, not ice! Why do they put in so much ice? Even ordering “light ice” gets me too much.
Besides, I can sip on my soda while I wait for my meal, then top it off before I leave.
I did ask “How can anyone with two working legs (and no kids strapped into the back) …”
Sure, there some real reasons for some people to use the drive-through. But take a look the next time you swing by and I’ll wager 80-90% are in the car alone, and it’s a safe bet (though of course impossible to verify) that most of them are able-bodied.
And yes, COVID does come into play, but it’s not like drive-throughs just got massively popular when the pandemic hit.
They’re not allowed in the town where I live (San Luis Obispo, CA). A McDonalds, A Burger King, a Carl’s Jr, a Jack in the Box, A Popeye’s, two Taco Bells, something like 43 Starbucks (it seems) and not a single drive-thru.
There was a Starbucks less than a mile from my son’s high school. We’d drive past it every morning when he was on his learner’s permit and shake our heads at the line of cars snaking around the building. From the number of kids he saw walking around with Starbucks cups first period he guessed those cars were all (perfectly able-bodied) students.
This is certainly the case at In-N-Out. The drive-thru there is pretty much ALWAYS packed (often, they’ll put one or more employees out in the lot to take orders on a wireless device), and going inside to order can SEEM like the smart move, but the inside line takes FOREVER for them to take your order, cook it, and get you out the door.
Of course, in the time it takes to get from the order taker in the drive-thru to the window, your food is ready.
I hardly ever choose the drive-thru. Maybe it’s confirmation bias, but it seems I can get in and out with a counter order while the same cars are stuck in the drive-thru lane. Plus, I like to fill my own soda cup. They never put enough ice in my soda. Even if I ask for “lots of ice,” that only means I end up with 4 cubes instead of 3. A few ice cubes floating on the top do nothing to keep the drink cold, and only water it down. Plus, I can sip and top off after getting my order.
True story: in a moment of weakness a number of years ago, on a road trip, I went through the Burger King drive-thru. I ordered a Whopper with cheese “with everything except tomatoes.” I can’t handle tomatoes. Seriously, raw tomatoes are the only “food” I’ve tried that elicits instant ralph. Well, the drive-thru minion gave me a Whooper with cheese with nothing, except tomatoes. And since I had obviously foregone all the rest of the good stuff, he figured he’d load up on the tomatoes to make up for it. A few miles down the road I opened the bag to enjoy my Whopper and discovered a vile red sopping inedible poisonous mess.
So, no, I try to avoid the drive-thru at all costs.
I eat at McDonald’s drive through several days a week on my morning commute. I pretty much get exactly what I ordered, fast, and with a smile. I got no complaints.
They really have an efficient operation going. They’re pumping cars through every 20-30 seconds at my local place. They also split the payment and delivery steps.
Fuck the OP. I drive an EV; I’m not burning anything by “idling”; on the contrary, I’m saving energy by not opening doors and letting the outside air in. Plus I get to listen to my own music in a comfortable chair and don’t have to interact with plague fountains.
Three dogs. Park your car and go in to order and you’ll come back out to find fifteen concerned citizens trying like hell to get past your pissed off slobbering bitey get away from my car dogs to “help” them by opening the doors and letting them run into traffic because everybody knows dogs die instantly when left in the car for even a minute or two. In the drive through they get cookies. Not a difficult choice to make.
I always park, run in and come right back with our order, and my wife always says “Wow, that was quick!” Sometimes I keep track of the cars in line and say 'And the beige mini-van we would’ve been behind still hasn’t gotten to the window."
For better or worse, one of the metrics that a restaurant corporation will use to evaluate the performance of its franchisees is drive-thru service time. For this reason, many restaurants do all they can to minimize wait times in the drive-thru. The timer might start when you reach the menu board and ends when you leave the last window. If you’ve ever been asked to pull around to the front so they can bring your food out (even when there’s nobody behind you) it’s possible they’re trying to cut the timer short to keep their average low.
