You may want to bring a book while waiting in line at the drive-thru
Do you find yourself waiting longer at the drive-thru these days? You can blame it on the Coronavirus increasing wait times at your favorite fast-food restaurants.
According to a sterling piece done by CNBC, the average drive-thru times from 10 of the nation’s largest fast-food outlets have gone up by almost half-a-minute. That’s 30 seconds of life that is being wasted sitting in line for a Big Mac meal, how do you feel about that?
The reason behind the increase in waiting times is thanks to the coronavirus (isn’t everything?), which has driven more people out of walking in and, instead, making a beeline to the drive-thru window.
The same CNBC report, complied by NPD Group, also showed that drive-thru visits have increased a whopping 26% since the drop of the coronavirus curtain on America in April. That’s a lot of cars.
What are restaurants trying to do to bring the time down at the drive-thru?
The only thing they can do: Add more lanes.
Chief among them have been Starbucks and Chipotle, both of whom are trying to add drive-thru capacity to accommodate the added crush of cars.
Those two popular chains are following on the heels of what McDonald’s and Wendy’s have done in recent years by adding more capacity to their lanes in the hopes of bringing down wait times. And you know what? It’s worked so far.
McDonald’s joined KFC and Taco Bell as the only three fast food outlets to bring down their wait times in the midst of the pandemic.
Looking at the situation overall, though, people are actually waiting less than they did a year ago. You can also thank King Corona for that.
In order to trim costs and make their kitchens more efficient, fast-food outlets have been trimming menus. Let’s hope that the “trimming” craze extends to the drive-thru.