Drive-Thru Evolution

Fast-Food Chains Search For Ways To Stand Out In Drive-Thru Service

(AP) 

The system, called Hyperactive Bob, cuts preparation time and eliminates up to 60 percent of waste, said Joe Porfeli, the company's chief executive.

The technology is used at two major national chains, Porfeli said, declining to give their names.

Burger King has started using similar technology, said Jim Hyatt, chief global operations officer of the Miami-based chain, of 11,220 restaurants. The technology monitors the status of precooked food and determines what orders the kitchen should expect, he said.

Wendy's, with 9,800 restaurants and $3.2 billion in annual sales, has led the QSR studies for speediest service nearly every year since they started in 1997. But Checkers trimmed that lead to just three-tenths of a second last year with debit and credit payment systems and touch-screen computers for order-takers.

The Tampa, Fla., company, aims to get more orders right as it tests confirmation systems in some Florida restaurants, Chief Executive Keith Sirois said. The effort includes slimming down the menu to simplify order preparation, he said.

Cutting menus is a tried and true way to improve speed as well, said Carl Sibilski, an analyst with Morningstar Inc.

Companies that are rolling out new menu items have had a more difficult time beating the clock, he said. Those chains have had to adopt more experimental tactics to boost speed, but those are more likely to backfire, Sibilski said.

McDonald's, with more than 31,000 restaurants worldwide and $20.2 billion in sales, did not return calls. But Sibilski, who follows the chain, said McDonald's is expanding its use of call centers for taking drive-thru orders, to ensure accuracy.

The outsourcing started in the Pacific Northwest and is now taking root in states such as Minnesota, Sibilski said. The system also is helpful in areas where the chain's employees may have limited English skills, he said.

Amy Pomante, 20, of Oxford in southwest Ohio, said communications with drive-thru employees have come a long way.

"They haven't gotten faster, but you can understand them now," she said as she shopped for groceries in Columbus.

Pomante held her hand in front of her mouth and imitated the garbled speakers she grew up with.

"You don't get that anymore," she said.

With the streamlined science that drive-thru service has become, customer attitudes have changed, said Wendy's franchise owner Roger Webb, who started his career with the company at the chain's first drive-thru in Columbus.

"To order something from a box 20 feet away from the building," he said, "that was kind of unheard of then."