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A 'drive-through', 'drive-thru' or QSR in business terms[1], is a business, most commonly a restaurant, that serves customers who pull up in their vehicles. Orders are taken and goods or services are provided using a window or microphone, while the customers remain in their vehicles. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1940s but has since spread worldwide.

Contents

Examples of drive-through businesses

Drive-through restaurants

Drive-through banking

Record

Walking and cycling through the drive-through

See also

References

Examples of drive-through businesses

★ Banking services at a drive-through bank

★ Drugs at a drive-through pharmacy

★ Alcohol at a drive-through liquor store

★ Food or drink at a drive-through restaurant (typically fast food such as McDonald's)

★ Coffee at a drive-through coffee shop

★ Marriage (primarily at special drive-through marriage chapels in Las Vegas in the United States)

Drive-through restaurants

A drive-through restaurant generally consists of:

★ One or more free-standing signs listing the menu items, called a ''menu board''

★ A speaker and microphone, or a window, for customers to order from

★ A speaker and microphone or wireless headset system for employees to hear the customer's order (when a speaker is used)

★ One or more windows where employees interact with customers by taking the order, money and/or giving the customer the order
Drive-through designs are different from restaurant to restaurant; however, most drive-throughs can accommodate four to six passenger cars or trucks at once (called the queue).
In 1971 Wendy's founder Dave Thomas opened a second restaurant in Columbus ohio, featuring what Wendy's claims in its corporate history was "the first modern-day, drive-thru window,". Not the very first, but Wendy's crafted the formula for drive-thru operations that made it a staple in the fast food industry, convenient for soccer moms and frantic road trippers.
Sierra Vista, Arizona was the first city to have a McDonalds Drive thru. It first opened its window on January 24, 1975 to be able to quickly feed many of the soldiers coming from Fort Huachuca, a military base located adjacent to the city. The original McDonalds was closed down and demolished in May of 1999 and a new McDonalds replaced it, forever destroying the historic location.
In the Syracuse Herald Journal, December 15, 1940 p8, Merchant's Bank of Syracuse, N.Y. ran an advertisement for the newly opened "Drive-In Teller Service" located on the side of their bank building on South Warren Street in downtown Syracuse, N.Y.
The first drive-through restaurant (a McDonald's drive-thru) in Europe opened at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland in 1985.[2]

Drive-through banking

In 1928, City Center Bank, which became UMB Financial Corporation, president R. Crosby Kemper opened what is considered the first drive up window. Westminster Bank, impressed by the concept, opened the UK's first drive-through bank in Liverpool in 1959, soon followed by Ulster Bank opening Ireland's first in 1961 at Finaghy.
Over the recent years we have seen the demise of drive-through banking due to increased traffic congestion and the increased availability of automated teller machines and telephone and Internet banking.

Record

In 2005, McDonald's Wynnum-West, an Australian McDonald's restaurant took the award for fastest drive-through service in the world. McDonald's Pty Ltd CEO Charlie Bell presented a plaque to the franchise at the annual McDonald's award ceremony in Washington, D.C. The record was 41 cars in just 15 minutes.
Mackay North McDonald's in Northern Queensland of Australia has almost matched this record at 40 cars in 15 minutes. However, it does boast a double ordering lane drive thru, 1 of 2 in Australia.

Walking and cycling through the drive-through

Pedestrians sometimes attempt to walk through the drive-through to order food after the seated section of a fast food restaurant has closed. Many establishments refuse drive-through service to pedestrians on the basis of safety and insurance liability. Cyclists are usually refused service with the same justification given.[3]

In the UK and Australia, pedestrians are often served at drive-through windows, if the main body of the restaurant is closed. Some busy McDonalds restaurants in particular also provide separate 'walk-thru' windows to be used on such occasions, eg overnight.

See also

Drive-in

References

★ Ulster Bank drive though banking history