If one sentiment threaded throughout this year’s QSR Drive-Thru Report, it was that no lone metric was sufficient to track performance. In fact, you could argue even the most concrete data points had to be contextualized. Speed of service, for instance, often proved disjointed from a consumer and statistical perspective.
The “slowest” brand, in Chick-fil-A at 325.47 seconds of average service time, according to Intouch Insights data, was given a 93 percent by survey respondents for speed of service satisfaction. Chick-fil-A paced the pack with an average of 4.74 cars in line, meaning much of that figure accounted for how busy the chain's drive-thru was. The next closest brand was McDonald’s, at 3.48. Using average total time by cars in line, Chick-fil-A was actually the fastest at moving vehicles through (107.41 seconds). McDonald’s (118), Taco Bell (127.58), Arby’s (139.92), and Dunkin’ (140.21) rounded out the top five.
Plainly, there are a lot of factors influencing how diners define their overall drive-thru experience. A stop watch is only the start. Accuracy, technology, and whether or not a line of cars is static before the order point, were all key triggers to how guests perceived speed versus the technical, clocked figure.
And so was customer service. Year after year, the data showed order accuracy to be 15 percent higher when service was rated as “friendly.” It increased 1 percent this year over 2020’s data, Laura Livers, senior director of business development at Intouch Insight, pointed out. Accuracy increased when friendliness did. The average total time with friendly service was almost three and half minutes faster than with unfriendly service.
READ MORE: A look back at the 2020 rankings (it's clear how far drive-thrus have come since)
All said, in this year’s Report, with help from FoodserviceResults and consumer data gathered from 1,010 drive-thru users (all participants were screened to only include those who had at least one drive-thru occasion in the last 30 days), QSR measured overall experience, speed of service, friendliness of staff, cleanliness and sanitation, menu item availability, quality of menu items ordered, and order accuracy to come up with a view of national chain drive-thru visit satisfaction.
To note, this ranking was based on consumer surveys. The mystery shopper data for speed of service and accuracy, among other metrics, was measured in the Report, which can be viewed here.
What this reveals then is elemental at its base: Here is what customers are giving fast-food drive-thrus around the country credit for.
One other detail to consider is, broadly, the industry is scoring higher at the drive-thru than in recent years. According to the survey, drive-thru visits post-pandemic (67 percent) are rated better among consumers than during the peak of the pandemic (61 percent).
The question posed—“When placing your drive-thru order from these national chain restaurants, how would you rate the following?”
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