The Drive-Thru Blues
Published by Bill September 13th, 2006 in Anything Else?.We’re your drive-thru customers. The ones who pay your bills – so listen up. Ok, let’s admit it, we occasionally find ourselves in your takeout drive-thru line, particularly on football nights. Why can’t we understand anything your menu board says? It’s not a lot of fun sitting out here talking to a backlighted piece of plastic under the best of conditions. But when it spits out a bunch of verbal gibberish, we begin to doubt ourselves. Maybe we just don’t have the right stuff to order drive-thru takeout.
Drive-thru operations with talking menu boards existed long before we put men on the moon. We have no problem talking to the men on the moon. Law enforcement agencies beam a listening device at our living room window from the next block and hear us whispering. But talking to your drive-thru order taker 100 feet away seems beyond current technology.
Probably after a monumental operational study and several Board of Director’s meetings, Jack decided to add a “pre-ordering†menu board to the Jack in the Box drive-thru. Imagine the loss of self-esteem suffered by us drive-thru customers shouting at this mute piece of plastic, especially when the yardman tells us that around the drive-thru corner, hidden behind some bushes, is an identical menu board with a squawk box. Then discovering that we can’t understand a word it says, anyway. We leave, broken shells of our former selves, holding a white paper bag containing God knows what.
This is a common drive-thru conversation (Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.)
“Welcometobicsbetterbur(static)homeoftheflam(someone shouting)chick(cash register ringing)edsteakâ€
“What?â€
“welcometobicsbett(scratchy sound)burgersmay(cough)akeur(cash register ringing)der.
“Do you want my order?â€
“goheadplezâ€
“Go where?â€
“What-would-you-like-to-order?â€
“Wow! You speak English great.â€
“Eight what?â€
“Never mind, just give me: 2 – #1’s, 1 – #2, and 3 – #4’sâ€
“Ok, that’s: a #1, a #2, a #3, and a #4. frieslawbeansurtots?â€
And so it goes.
Not all the drive-thru communication problems are the result of cheap, faulty audio systems. Many drive-thru operations that pay their order takers a whopping $7.00 to $9.00 per hour, feel these minions should multitask to earn their lofty wage. They are fitted with a wireless headset (an endemic source of communication mayhem), freeing them to fill drink orders and sack orders, while taking orders, cashing out orders, and handing the orders through the delivery window. Five for one: not a bad deal – if the operator discounts our frustration when the overtaxed person just can’t keep your drive-thru moving along smoothly.
It would be an interesting study to determine the cost/return ratio of putting a real live, smiling, happy person in the drive-thru line for three hours each at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That’s nine hours daily of personal contact with us, your drive-thru customers: greeting us; taking our orders; selling us lots of extra stuff; keeping us satisfied and streamlining the whole operation to process more orders in less time. The increased sales could be shocking.
Since that idea is way too radical for most operators, then how about trying these solutions to help us out:
- Convince your order takers that they are communicators, not speed-talkers
- Let your order taker do just that: process the orders, collect the money, and hand the orders to us
- If there is a better order taking system, buy it.
Bill Miller Bar-B-Q, a South Texas chain with over 60 stores, opted for all three above. Their audio system is good, and their order takers are not overtaxed and usually are comprehensible. Here’s the big difference. Immediately next to their backlighted piece of plastic, they placed a pylon containing an LCD screen that shows our order as it’s punched into the cash register. What a sense of accomplishment, just knowing that our order is correct.
In a survey of your drive-thru customers, most would vote for the real, live person. If you feel you can’t do this, then any of #1, #2 or #3 above would help us. Or follow Bill Miller’s lead and do all three, and we’ll keep on driving-thru.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Since when do you go through drive-throughs? A gourmand like you. I’m shocked, shocked.
Drive thru’s are not for civilzed people.
The only reason for a person to go through a drive thru is if a teen aged boy can’t take the time to unwrap himself from the voluptuous
17 year old girl he’s got his hands on and walk inside!
The rest of the civilized world goes inside and orders in the correct way.
I see those same $7.00/hr multi-tasking minions after work in their greasy uniforms driving down the road, seamlessly tweaking their multi-component car audio/satellite/ipod 10-disc system, seat dancing, conversing with all 5 friends jammed into the 2-door, manual shift, coupe, while carrying on a cell phone conversation and simultaneously text messaging their other friends on the same cell phone, and taking pics of their friends in the car with the same cell phone to forward to the friends that aren’t in the car (yet). Don’t tell me they can’t take a simple order and punch it in to a easy-to-use system (e.g. picture of hamburger button orders hamburger), while simultaneously putting a cup under a spout and pressing another easy-to-use bottom which automaticaly dispenses the correct amount of whatever soda you didn’t order into the cup.
I like to think of myself as occassionally civilized. I still use the drive thru. I really don’t want to go inside where I might accidentally catch a glimpse of the food prep (yuck).
And while you’re on it… what’s up with Taco Bell? In some misguided attempt to be different from the rest, they now have their “announcer” simply say “hello, how are you today?” when you drive up. I say “fine, how are you?” And then we sit…
I think this is great, Bill! A fun and informative read. Looking forward to checking in.
Genie