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How Fast Food Chains Are Becoming Even Faster - My Recipes
McDonald’s and Jack in the Box hope faster orders lead to more revenue.
Between the number of chains and the breadth of their menus, fast food can cater to any culinary whim. But in some respects, both big industry players and those struggling to survive in the cutthroat burger biz are shifting to a mindset that less is more and speed is king.
At McDonald’s, a spate of recent changes aims to turn around some of the slowest drive-thru times in the business. According to restaurant industry publication QSR, the average drive-thru time at McDonald’s went from 208.16 seconds in 2016 to 273.29 seconds in 2018, falling from fifth to tenth in the speed rankings over that time. Go even further back to 2012, and that time was 188.83 seconds. For context, the 2018 average across fast food drive-thrus was 234.08 seconds.
Despite recently announcing the addition of some international favorites, McDonald’s is in part adopting a less-is-more strategy to speed things up: gone are its Signature Crafted burgers. The late-night menu has been stripped down to focus on popular items like Big Macs and breakfast. And speaking of breakfast, individual McDonald’s franchises now have the ability to determine exactly what “all day” and “breakfast” means after 10:30 a.m.
McDonald’s and Jack in the Box hope faster orders lead to more revenue.
Between the number of chains and the breadth of their menus, fast food can cater to any culinary whim. But in some respects, both big industry players and those struggling to survive in the cutthroat burger biz are shifting to a mindset that less is more and speed is king.
At McDonald’s, a spate of recent changes aims to turn around some of the slowest drive-thru times in the business. According to restaurant industry publication QSR, the average drive-thru time at McDonald’s went from 208.16 seconds in 2016 to 273.29 seconds in 2018, falling from fifth to tenth in the speed rankings over that time. Go even further back to 2012, and that time was 188.83 seconds. For context, the 2018 average across fast food drive-thrus was 234.08 seconds.
Despite recently announcing the addition of some international favorites, McDonald’s is in part adopting a less-is-more strategy to speed things up: gone are its Signature Crafted burgers. The late-night menu has been stripped down to focus on popular items like Big Macs and breakfast. And speaking of breakfast, individual McDonald’s franchises now have the ability to determine exactly what “all day” and “breakfast” means after 10:30 a.m.