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Why Drive-Thrus Are Still Costing Franchisors Millions
According to a recent study, fast-food drive-thrus are losing about $178 million per 2,000 locations each year.
Drive-thru windows are proving to be a complex issue amongst restaurant brands this year. While many franchisors across the QSR and fast casual space have been investing in new techniques to make the process faster and easier for customers, it looks like drive-thru windows are still coming at a cost for these brands’ bottom lines.
According to SeeLevel HX's 2019 QSR Drive-Thru study, fast-food drive-thrus are losing about $178 million per 2,000 locations each year. That translates to an average loss per store of $89,000. According to the study, complex menu boards are impacting kitchen layouts and costing drive-thrus as a whole, leading to increased service times and inaccurate orders.
This year, some of the QSR segment’s biggest players have been making strides in drive-thru innovations specifically aimed at speeding up service, providing better accuracy and creating more personalized experiences. Most notably, McDonald's bought Dynamic Yield, the digital menu board company, for $300 million in March, and acquired voice-based conversational technology company Apprente in September. According to the study, improved menu boards like this can improve drive-thru performance and save QSRs $28,000 per store and $56.3 million per 2,000 locations.
McDonald's has improved its drive-thru time by 20 seconds during Q3 following initiatives that reduced menu complexity and gave staff more tools to cook faster. Other franchisors such as Dunkin’, Chipotle and Jack in the Box have been testing new ways to speed up and simplify the drive-thru process as well.
There are a number of other issues—crowded menus, mobile ordering and third-party delivery—that are slowing down back-of-the-house operations. In order to best streamline the drive-thru process, brands may need to think of redesigns, menu simplification or virtual kitchens as possible avenues for further innovation.
Considering 50% to 70% of all business in fast food consists of drive-thru sales, franchisors are going to need to come up with a solution one way or another.
