Top 3 Drive Thru Stressful Realities Brands Forget

Drive thru lanes are a convenience worth the stress

Brands in their rush to maximize this important ordering channel and create an omni-channel experience, often forget how stressful the drive thru lane can be for customers. (And their staff too.)

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WHAT BRANDS FORGET:

• Social Pressure: Being in a line next to others also waiting, can amplify feelings of impatience. In a post COVID era, some customers can feel a form of agorophobia when there are long lines and the voice on the other side of the intercom is clearly trying to move you along. Especially if the car directly behind you has a stressed out looking parent and kids screaming in it.

• We Crave Speed: Consumers are known to avoid a drive thru lane if it looks like the wait will be too long. WE HAVE THINGS TO DO! According to Modern Restaurant Management, “91 percent of diners who say they would skip or leave the line if there were too many cars also say they would be more likely to stay if they previously experienced speedy drive-thru service at the same restaurant”. This explains why people will leave a burger chain’s drive thru if the line looks long, but will stay at Portillo’s or Chik-fil-A.

• Queue Urgency: Employees are pressured to go as fast as possible to meet consumer expectations. We call it “fast” food for a reason. Brands proudly compete for the shortest time through their lanes. If a customer is taking too long, team members might feel pressured by management to encourage quicker decisions to prevent delays.

  
  So what is the net take-away? Have a simple to navigate drive thru menu that is easy to use and gets your customers happily on their way.

  To pull this off you have to have careful planning. Do the work on your strategy, optimize your workflows to create the right content & menu designs, and make sure you have right mar/com tech stack to manage your content correctly.