Drive-thrus have been a staple for quick service restaurants for decades. In fact, the first true drive-thru restaurant was built in 1947 on Route 66, although several other restaurant brands claim the title as well. Although the drive-thru experience has certainly evolved since then, the foundational goals remain the same: increase speed of service and deliver a convenient experience for your guests.

In the past few years, we’ve seen drive-thru traffic increase by 10-20% for many high-volume QSRs. As consumers become more and more tech savvy, restaurant brands are looking for ways to enhance the drive-thru experience. But the challenges for the industry remain: how do you improve the experience without disrupting it for the consumer while also adding valuable pieces of technology? How do you leave an impression with a customer when the goal remains to get them thru the line and on their way quickly? How do you maintain a level of personalization without slowing down the line?

Whether you are actively thinking of ways to update your drive-thru service, or you haven’t started yet, here are a few ideas to consider to enhance the experience while still focusing on your two core objectives: speed of service and guest convenience.

Strategically think of the flow of traffic

For many brands who have seen a big uptick in drive-thru traffic, this directly impacts your parking lot. You may have significantly more cars on the property, creating grid lock within the lot for parked guests or maybe even the main roads surrounding your locations. Here are three ways to alleviate disrupted flow of traffic:

1.     Transition your drive-thru to a multi-lane format. This could be a Y-lane, or even a double lane if you have the space. Brands like Checker’s Rally’s and McDonald’s have developed footprints to manage the length of the line by maximizing side-by-side space.

2.     Leverage signs and cones to direct flow of traffic. If you have multiple entrances, use cones or posts to communicate lanes or flow direction. You can also install signage to direct traffic such as pick-up, dine-in and drive-thru to certain areas of your lots.

3.     Utilize line busting and handhelds. Place your staff outside to take orders when the cars pull up. Learn from Chick-fil-A in what they’ve termed “face-to-face ordering.” This form of line busting includes one team member walking the line to take orders while another comes to take payments. This allows cars to move twice as fast as the traditional speaker box method. Similarly, handhelds are also great to use to increase the speed of service. They get orders in faster and ultimately fulfilled faster too. Handhelds are a great technology to implement line busting for the drive-thru and you can leverage them in other ways like in-store or for managers. Here’s