With the revenue slice getting bigger through the drive-thru lane it is important to be mindful of the time it takes a customer to get from their first touch point, quite often a directional sign, to pick up the food and drive away. Customers expect speed and accuracy but what if wait times increase? We know this impacts the customer emotionally, but what does this cost your business?
Let’s take a look to find out.
Peak hours are most impacted by the efficiency, or lack thereof, of your drive-thru. While peak times vary based on concept, quite often QSRs will see a rush in the morning, lunch and in the evening. Some may experience another rush on the weekends from the late-night crowd. Now, add 30-60 seconds per transaction. Those add up quickly and result in lost sales and customers. As lines form and impatience grows, customers will pull out of the line if they haven’t gotten to the drive-thru menu board or continue driving past all together.
The slower your drive-thru lane, the less likely you can expect a return customer; it impacts loyalty. The operative word in “QSR” is “Quick” and studies show that if you fall short in this regard, satisfaction is negatively influenced. This marker is towards the top of the list. This all can lead to unflattering posts online which can have a ripple effect. While others may not have taken note on your turnaround time, reading something online can trigger their awareness and shed a spotlight negatively.
Most of the time, the delay from start to finish has less to do with the employees and more to do with either the lack of personnel or operational bottlenecks. Analysis should be done to address the areas where orders get hung up. Is a single employee handling too many steps? Do the employees get in each other’s way and/or is the kitchen not set up for process and flow? If so, unintentional errors happen more regularly which increases waste and food cost. Many think that adding more people is the answer. You’ve now cannibalized profits with the added labor cost while not identifying the crux of the operation.
How to identify these areas and improve?
Stating what should be obvious, you need to take a step back and see where things are getting hung up. Are the employees taking too much time repeating the orders to the customers? Solution- Order Confirmation Screen. Are the customers and employees fighting through bad audio? Solution- New Drive-thru Headset System. Are the customers having a difficult time navigating your menu board? Solution- de-clutter, streamline and redesign your graphics or digital menu boards. Are your employees dragging their feet? Solution- add a drive-thru timer and add benchmarks. Reward the employees if they hit their key performance indicators. Short staffed? Solution- use AI order taking technology to free up an employee.
While new products can assist in the order taking process, there are a few other ways to improve the speed in your drive-thru lane. For example, train your employees! Rather than “throwing them to the wolves,” take your time and support your employees to a point where the can enter orders quickly, where they know how to prep the food quickly and where they know how to pivot on the fly to accommodate several orders at once.
From an operational standpoint, you should do a spaghetti diagram to flush out inefficiencies in equipment placement, employee movement and overall process.
“What is a Spaghetti Diagram?
A Spaghetti Diagram is a visual flow of an activity or process used to identify areas for improvement. In other words, it is a visual representation that captures the basic flow of people, products, and process.
A Spaghetti Diagram helps to redesign the layout to reduce the unnecessary movement of people, products, and information”
In taking these steps the math will begin to work in your favor and quickly. Quicker throughput equals more cars through your lane which ultimately generates more revenue.
Take a moment and think about those extra 30-60 seconds per car. Then think about it over the course of a day, then a week, then a year. The impact on your bottom line grows exponentially. Act now to reverse this course into a positive direction.
Do you need help making these determinations for your business? Give us a call today at 888-235-2579, email us at info@origindisplays.com or contact us here to speak with a solutions specialist.
