Large Drive-Thru Orders

[HYHYBT]

When you say the car three back, do you mean a group of cars all in the same order, just that the lead car is sorting the order out?

I was speaking of multiple orders in a single car, with other, unrelated cars ahead of them. Say, #1 is receiving their food at the presenter's window, #2 has paid and pulled up as far as they can go, #3 hasn't quite got to the cashier window yet, #'s 4 and 5 have ordered and are behind them, and #6 is at the speaker placing multiple, separate orders. The ordertaker register will have on it the order #6 is currently placing. It can only start new orders, not go back to existing ones further up the line and change them. The cashier register should be showing #3's order; it can be used to modify orders, and it can skip ahead (in case someone drove off or cars pull up to the window in a different order than the system expected) but the intent is that this is for people who change their order *at the window*. The software was deliberately designed so that once an order has been changed on the cashier register, it must be paid for before you can move on to any other order. Once the "store" button has been pressed, therefore, that order *cannot* be changed until it's your turn to pay.

So: if placing more than one separate order in a car, DO NOT in any way indicate you're moving on to the next order unless you are completely certain you're done placing the first one. It really messes things up, likely for you as well as for the employees. BUT also be sure to mention that you intend to place multiple orders sometime *before* finishing the first one, so that they can be marked onscreen as being together.

Separate cars are always separate, though you're welcome to pay for the one behind you if you wish.

Why can't service plazas that regularly get "hit" by buses (which have to be on some sort of schedule - so why not have a shift overlap for when the bus is due?) - or the pub in GT's case, have one server dedicated to people who are NOT part of the large group?

That makes good sense... if it's a regularly scheduled bus, and if they always stop at the same place. Ours never were. The one that got them the most often was a good stopping point for football and band buses on fall Friday nights and had a racetrack nearby that drew big crowds more weekends than not spring through fall, but weekends were generally as fully staffed as possible anyway. And of course every freestanding location is going to get the random one-offs now and then. I think the most we had at once that didn't split up was six school buses full, but thankfully each person was ordering and paying separately.

(It's truly a mess when a bus needs to all pay on a single order, but each person order separately. It quickly becomes impossible to tell what's been made, what's been picked up, etc., and then they'll hit one or another of the limits in the register and it will lock up. For example, on the now-outdated PC-POS software, there was a hard limit of, I think, 18 total modifiers and condiments per order. As in, if one person says "no mayo" (2), the next "only onions and mustard" (3) and the next "extra ketchup no cheese" (4) that's nine right there, half the total allowed. Also, no more than 99 of any one item and no more than $999.99 total, though those were much harder to hit.)

And then, if there's any change at the window, it's a waste of cups, soda, and time. There's a point where automation is too automated.

Not many people change their orders at the window. Those who do, it gets made quickly unless there are a lot of orders behind them; at worst, the other drinks have to be capped (and marked with those little buttons on the lid) and set aside until the replacement comes up. It's no more a waste of cups or soda than when you change your order after a person has poured the drink, after all.

[Ginger Tea]

I wasn't aware drive-thru's had the space to have more than 3 car lengths going let alone be able to be entering car 6 by the time car one was at the window, unless cars pull to one side and have it delivered.

I don't see many drive thru's in the UK and only know of one here, a McD, but it is about the same size as a non drive thru Pizza Hut nestled in the retail park car park, each would be limted in car capacity and no where near 6 cars.

[Kheldarson]

I wasn't aware drive-thru's had the space to have more than 3 car lengths going let alone be able to be entering car 6 by the time car one was at the window, unless cars pull to one side and have it delivered.

I don't see many drive thru's in the UK and only know of one here, a McD, but it is about the same size as a non drive thru Pizza Hut nestled in the retail park car park, each would be limted in car capacity and no where near 6 cars.

Average around here seems to be 4 car lengths, but my local Chik-fil-A has their drive through set up to have 8-9. They're fast though.

[Andara Bledin]

I think you can fit up to 9 cars in the drive through at my local Jack in the Box, with #6 being at the order box, provided none of them are land yachts or huge trucks.

[HYHYBT]

The shortest I've worked in held 5, and that was a store with a basement so the speaker was closer to the window than in newer buildings. One I was in could hold 12-14, depending on car length and how close they pulled up on each other. The latter was, contrary to all reason, expected to meet the same service times as the former. (Also, the POS wouldn't hold but 16 DT orders at a time, which I found out when a couple cars in line at the same time had more than one order each.)

Oh, here, I don't work there anymore anyway. Can't seem to link to a specific location with either Google or Mapquest, which is really aggravating, but try Google Maps, 3210 Buford Drive, Buford GA. It's the green-roofed building. The two red things half the building's length behind it are the order points, and going around counterclockwise, the presenter's window is at about the third parking space from the front.


And yet, I still miss that place. (It's also the store where I was asked where the mall was. It's across the street. Leave our parking lot at the traffic light and go straight across, can't miss it. Big building that says "Macy's" on the nearest corner.)

[bara]

I say keep the huge orders away from the drive thru. Not only for the people behind you but for the poor workers who have a very fine line as far as how quickly they get your order to you. Sure, they can still have you pull ahead and park. But that still kills their time and give the employer an excuse to complain.

And boy howdy does corporate like to complain.

[Nekojin]

I say keep the huge orders away from the drive thru. Not only for the people behind you but for the poor workers who have a very fine line as far as how quickly they get your order to you. Sure, they can still have you pull ahead and park. But that still kills their time and give the employer an excuse to complain.

And boy howdy does corporate like to complain.

Emphasis added. If you're talking about their "order tracking" system, that times how long it takes to complete orders, the ones I've seen are solely based on the car's physical presence/absence, so "parking" someone doesn't actually impact their performance numbers - as far as the system is concerned, they got the "parked" person out within the normal time window. The fact that their food arrived 5 minutes later has no impact.

We actually had an explicit confirmation of this a week ago. We bought some food at Rally's, and once we got the food, I was digging through the bags to confirm that everything was there. Even though there wasn't anyone behind us in line, the manager asked us politely if we could pull forward to do the inventory. When asked why, he explained that it was so that their order clock would stop running.

[bara]

Ahh.. I did not know that Neko. Thank you.

[Tanasi]

A lot of the local FF joints have put a maximum of two separate orders per car. If you have more they'll tell you to come inside and they'll help you to the car with the orders or make another pass around the joint.
A breakfast place I frequent has an odd couple that breakfasts there every morning. While they utilize the drive through they do not stop to place their order. They pull up in the adjacent lane and someone from inside goes out to take their order and brings it to them. I've asked about this and was told they own the land this joint is on and they do not want to wait so they get special treatment.

[yankees12100]

Ordering: a $30 order isn't really all that much these days unless it's all dollar menu stuff. You're talking about four meals. Even if it's al special ordered stuff, taking that order won't take that long, UNLESS. That's unless they hem and haw about what they want and keep changing things. Orders of that size, it's not so much a matter of "you shouldn't order that in a Drive-Thru" as "you should decide what you want before you get to the speaker if there's that much." Inside, you can always let people ahead of you until you've made up your minds, though many people aren't that considerate.

A *really* large order, if it's a single order, you should call ahead for. And most people do. A large *crowd,* that is, what would be a large order except they're ordering separately, you probably can't get your bus through the drive-thru anyway, and you'd do better on distributing it accurately to come in even if doing otherwise were possible. Besides, those usually want to eat in anyway.

Now, a truly huge, to-go order for people who are not present is generally going to be a large multiple of standard items (say, 50 Big Mac meals.) Again, you should have called, but it doesn't take long to order and you will be parked. The main trouble in that case is the drinks: inside, we could just hand you a sleeve of cups and some carriers and let you fix them while the food is being made. DT, just ringing the order up sends them to the automatic dispenser, which means that nobody's getting anything else out of it until those are made (and the cups and ice refilled, most likely.)

Anyway, if they have the courtesy to be organized (ideally with one person ordering from a written list) going through the drive-thru isn't all that big a deal.

As for multiple orders in one car: ask first, and accept the answer. Finish one order completely and make sure the transition point is clear before beginning the next, and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER try to go back and change anything on an order once it's been stored. These conditions are not a matter of the ordertaker or the store being picky; at least with the software we had, you couldn't pull a previous order back to the OT register (the previous system did allow it, but only if another order hadn't been started) and skipping ahead to it on the cashier register made it impossible to go to any other orders until the modified one had been paid for, which is somewhat of a problem when it belongs to the car three back from the one sitting there with money.

What FF place was this? The multiple orders in one car sounds a lot like where I used to work (Taco Bell..lol). Do you know what software you were using? And are multiple orders for one car usually a hassle?

[yankees12100]

Message to anyone: Why is it usually a hassle to do multiple orders for one car through the drive-thru? Can't you just treat two separate orders in one car as two separate cars? lol

[HYHYBT]

What FF place was this? The multiple orders in one car sounds a lot like where I used to work (Taco Bell..lol). Do you know what software you were using? And are multiple orders for one car usually a hassle?

Mcdonald's (my CS, etc. name originally stood for Have You Had Your Break Today.)

PC-POS on the registers, running on DOS. They don't use it anymore; I believe the current is called NewPOS, but I've never used it.

Not usually. We had a limit of two orders per car, though it was possible to do more. Generally it went smoothly; I just describe the things that would make it not do so.

[HYHYBT]

Message to anyone: Why is it usually a hassle to do multiple orders for one car through the drive-thru? Can't you just treat two separate orders in one car as two separate cars? lol

Normally, no, it's not s big deal. Unless, again, you either don't say you want separate orders until it's all been rung up together or you try to go backwards. And yes, it can be entered as if you were separate cars (and will be, if you don't say you have a second order until after the first is stored) but that means the runner, cashier, and presenter (or whatever subset of those isn't also the person who took the orders) won't know they belong together. Especially if there are many orders in line at once. If the store has two order points, especially, it makes it more likely you will eind up paying for and/or receiving someone else's order, and straightening that out once it's happened really bogs things down.

[yankees12100]

Thanks for your quick responses. I ask these questions because at taco bell and even other places where I have gone through the drive-thru (Mcdonalds, BK, Wendys etc) I'd say 75% of the time when my friends and I try doing separate orders they act like its a huge problem. I didn't know if there was a gap in the software, if the workers were unaware of how to do it, or if it was just a time thing (less time a car is in the drive-thru the better, Im sure I dont have to tell you that lol).

However, say 1 car did 3 separate orders and it took 3 minutes to complete from start to finish. I dont understand why the car cannot be treated as separate orders.. meaning the FF place recognizes this as 3 orders at 1 minute each rather than 1 order at 3 minutes.

[Nekojin]

However, say 1 car did 3 separate orders and it took 3 minutes to complete from start to finish. I dont understand why the car cannot be treated as separate orders.. meaning the FF place recognizes this as 3 orders at 1 minute each rather than 1 order at 3 minutes.

Because even that messes with the order stat tracking, making their results look "cooked." They can't control the trigger that watches for the presence of the car, after all.