Introduction

A DriveThru report by QSR, 2022, supports that speed of service deeply relates to customer satisfaction rate. While the quickest service was done at 3 minutes and 69 seconds, the highest time-consuming service was recorded to be delivered at 5 minutes and 42 seconds.

Let’s dive deeper into the primary challenges DriveThrus in the current times.

The DriveThrus Challanges

DriveThrus have become more significant than ever.

Quick service, good food, and swift payments constitute its significant impact. About 75% of the customers felt that convenience is their primary drawing factor towards a DriveThru.

But what about the challenges prevailing alongside? More often than not, it has been seen that these meals in a minute cause inconvenience to people at both ends of the chain - consumers and servers.

DriveThru Demand is Directly Proportional to Traffic Attracted

As people have become accustomed to more accessible and faster modes of already prepared food, it generates automatic heavy traffic at a QSR. 85% of customers think about quitting a long queue, 5% more than that in February 2021. If a counter-service handles its customers within the least waiting time, half of the work is already done.

The Relationship Between Wait Time and Customer Queue Length is Evident

Customer traffic at a take-out service requires employees to be faster, more efficacious, and fully attentive. However, a human is prone to mistakes, whether it is about taking orders or attaching them to the proper vehicles.

Let's say that if the total time of DriveThru service is equal to 4 minutes 15 seconds, only 2 cars will be entertained within this time period. This wait time really gets on the nerves of customers having to wait in queue.

Preparing for Ordered Food Takes Time

Two aspects invite our attention regarding the preparation of food and the staff required.

• The employees are not well-trained or ineligible to handle the speedy tendency of a DriveThru.
• It can also be that there is no sufficient staff in a restaurant to entertain a vast number of consumers.

The consequences of these shortcomings go a long way, such as -

Consumers waiting in a long queue add up to a restaurant failure further and getting frustrated as the whole essence of a DriveThru goes into vain due to late food preps. 81% of respondents say 10 minutes or more is too long for DriveThru.

Hampered Employee Productivity

Speed, pressure, and high demand make it a hectic task for employees to retain their composure and work efficiently. Taking orders, linking them with the correct vehicle number, and preparing the proper order without mistakes puts them in distress. If employees are not able to perform, a DriveThru is least likely to attain its goal.

How Video AI Solves these Challenges?

Almost every DriveThru is equipped with video surveillance cameras that generate tonnes of video content every day. However, in under 12 minutes, more than 45% of relevant footage goes unnoticed.

Underutilized video content holds great potential to become aware of operational inefficiencies; barriers between achieving a high speed of service and unparalleled convenience – which are primary customer demands at DriveThrus.

Video AI points you toward the exact point in space and time where bottlenecks exist so you can eliminate them in real time, whether related to an employee, food preparation, high wait times, long queues, or peak hours.

Here's how video AI boosts DriveThrus, making them swifter and more convenient for customers.

1. Add an Additional Lane or Open an Extra Window – JIT!

Get visibility on customer drive-in count; vehicle wait time, and queue length. Know when to open an additional lane or an extra window and improve the speed of service.

2. Aces in Position for the Peak Hours

Ensure dedicated staff as park runners in the back booth; and for fryers and grills in the kitchen. Determine peak hours and deploy your key staff in all crucial corners of the DriveThru, driving down wait times.

3. Incentivize your Productive Employees & Swap the Work-shy

Track and compare the performance of your staff based on performance metrics like wait time and queue length. Incentivize the well-performing employees and swap the slacking employees.

4. Accelerate with an Ergonomic Kitchen

Minimize staff movement by optimizing the kitchen layout using heatmaps. Adjust the aisle widths and organize equipment placement, improving your kitchen ergonomics.

5. Ensure that the Side-2 is Up and Running

Peak hours are the right time for Side-2 to be opened up in the kitchen. Efficient usage of Side-2 allows kitchen crew to work on more orders at the same time.

6. Peak Hours - Optimal time to Customize your Menu

During rush hours, update the digital menuboards by upselling items with less preparation times and downplay those which require longer time.

Conclusion

Every business aims to flourish sales via different strategies.

However, introducing video intelligence to DriveThrus magnifies consumer contentment, profit-oriented goals, and, above all, breed customer loyalty.

Video AI helps your DriveThru stay ahead of time. By using a single dashboard, operators can solve problems in real-time to improve their business across all parallels – speed of service, customer experience, loss prevention, employee productivity, and food safety.

Curious to know about your increased revenue after making Video AI a permanent part of your operations? Calculate the increase in revenue right now!

Book a demo with us to dive deeply into how our easy-to-use dashboard works!