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Drive-thru wait times have increased thanks to COVID-19

By Kareem Gantt

REDWOOD CITY, CA - JULY 29: Josephine Hernandez hands a tray of drinks to a drive thru customer at a McDonald's restaurant July 29, 2003 in Redwood City, California. McDonald's Corporation today reported record second quarter and first half U.S. sales spurred by enthusiasm for its new food offerings and improvement in food taste and service initiatives. Despite the significantly stronger U.S. sales, McDonald?s global profits fell 5 percent as sales in its restaurants in Europe and Asia remained flat.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
REDWOOD CITY, CA - JULY 29: Josephine Hernandez hands a tray of drinks to a drive thru customer at a McDonald's restaurant July 29, 2003 in Redwood City, California. McDonald's Corporation today reported record second quarter and first half U.S. sales spurred by enthusiasm for its new food offerings and improvement in food taste and service initiatives. Despite the significantly stronger U.S. sales, McDonald?s global profits fell 5 percent as sales in its restaurants in Europe and Asia remained flat.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) /
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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.

Next. Burger King tests their entry into the chicken sandwich wars. dark

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.

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