Fastest Fast Food

[webny99]

Which fast food chains actually have the fastest service, in your experience?

McDonald's - very fast
Wendy's - very fast
Dairy Queen - so so
Dunkin' Donuts - so so
Taco Bell - slow

[oscar]

Carl's Jr./Hardees -- slow in the drive-thrus, even slower inside at the counter.

[jeffandnicole]

It depends on the workers, the time of day, and the family in front of you that apparently has never made an advanced decision in their life and are totally surprised their car took them to the restaurant which they are now stuck ordering at.

Some McDonalds are extremely fast at lunchtime.  Those same ones can make you wait 15 minutes in the Drive-Thru at midnight.

Dunkin for me overall is generally fast.  Although at some locations, they ignore the On-The-Go app orders, and their slip telling them what to make is still sitting there when I arrive.

Taco Bell is usually fine, as is BK. 

KFC is one that I've been sitting inside for a long time, while they churn out the Drive-Thru orders very quickly.

Chick-fil-a is usually very prompt, considering how many people are visiting there. 

Others, especially those I only visit on rare occasion (Bojangles, Cook-Out, etc) seem to be fine the few times I visit.

[abefroman329]

Fried chicken places are fast unless they just ran out of chicken and are cooking more.

I would say the slowest "fast food" outlet, in terms of time from placing your order to receiving your order, is In-N-Out Burger.

[Scott5114]

Most fast food restaurants are franchised, so how fast they go depends on how much the owner focuses on speed of service. There is usually a chain-wide speed of service goal–at Burger King it's 2m 30s in the drive thru and, IIRC, 3m inside–but depending on the restaurant and time of day that's either easy to hit or a laughable, pie-in-the-sky affair.

For example, if it's really busy, you can make five Whoppers and keep them on the heat chute and whenever someone orders one, just grab one and toss it in the bag. If it's 11pm and you're getting one order every ten minutes, you can't keep anything on the chute because it will go bad before anyone can order it. So everything has to be made to order, which is slower. Some chicken sandwiches take 6 minutes to cook from scratch, and you just can't get around that, etc. And of course sometimes shit happens like someone going to lunch and never coming back, which will definitely ruin your times.

Some restaurants may choose to focus more on order accuracy than speed of service. Bad order accuracy usually causes more problems than bad SOS, so it's a logical sacrifice to make.

[Max Rockatansky]

Panda Express moves people through the lines extremely fast, probably the fastest of any chain I eat at somewhat regularly.

[formulanone]

As Scott said, it depends on what you order. Had an Asiago Chicken Club Sandwich for lunch at Wendy's today, and the manager said "sorry for the delay, but we like to make it fresh", so an 8-minute wait indoors during the lunch rush was a little above average. But it was made just right.

For the number of vehicles in the usual lunch rush drive-though line, Chic-Fil-A is probably the quickest overall. In many locations, they'll have someone take you order instead of talking into a speaker, which improves accuracy and speed.

[jeffandnicole]

For the number of vehicles in the usual lunch rush drive-though line, Chic-Fil-A is probably the quickest overall. In many locations, they'll have someone take you order instead of talking into a speaker, which improves accuracy and speed.

Yep. The one in Hamilton NJ uses 2 order takers outside at lunch.

[adventurernumber1]

This is how things seem to appear in my own area:

In no particular order, the fastest fast food restaurants are:
1. McDonald's
2. Sonic
3. Captain D.'s

In no particular order, the slowest fast food restaurants are:
1. Chick-Fil-A (in proportion to the amount of customers at one time, they are pretty fast, but there's so many people that it is very slow to get through - there are two Chick-Fil-A locations here in Dalton, Georgia, one on GA SR 52 at I-75's Exit 333, and one also on GA SR 52, inside the Walnut Square Mall on the east side of town - but they desperately need a third location in the north side of town - either on I-75's Exit 336, or somewhere near the GA SR 71/US 41-US 76-GA 3 intersection)
2. Schlotzsky's (they have great food that is homeade, so that's probably why it takes so long)
3. Steak 'n' Shake (I don't know why they take so long most of the time, but their food (and shakes) is among the best in the world of Fast Food restaurants in my opinion, so I don't complain)

[Flint1979]

I would say Wendy's.

However I had both an extremely fast and bad experience at two family style restaurants this weekend. On Saturday night I went into a Steak N Shake in Auburn Hills, Michigan at about 2 in the morning and they had a total of 16 people in there I counted them, the server sat me down and says I'll be with you when I can and right away I thought this might not turn out to be too good. I sat there for about 10 minutes and the server was waiting on other tables, walked past me three times and after this third time I thought she hasn't even bothered to get my drink order yet I'm outta here and left.

The next day at a Cracker Barrel in Bay City, Michigan I walked in at 7:25pm and was walking out at 7:45pm. I got to the hostess stand the hostess sat me right away, the server came to the table right away and I already knew what I wanted so I put in my drink order and food order at the same time. About 4 minutes later I had my food. Now my Cracker Barrel experience is how it's suppose to be done.

And another one on Friday afternoon I went into the Turkey Roost at about 3:30. The Turkey Roost is a very popular restaurant in Kawkawlin, Michigan just north of Bay City which specializes in turkey and you get your food within 3 minutes or so of ordering it. While on Friday's they have fish and I ordered a half Perch plate with fries, it took them 25 minutes after I put my order in to get my food. The Turkey Roost generally serves you faster than McDonald's does.

[jakeroot]

I tend to order chicken strips at fast food joints (a stay over from my childhood). Arby's, Carl's Jr, and McDonald's strips/tenders are made to order. I usually wait 5-10 minutes at those places. Wendy's is very quick (less than 3 minutes, typically). Burger King doesn't screw around with their chicken fries (usually they're ready to go), although every so often I'm left waiting for 5+ minutes. Popeye's is also very fast, although their limited menu allows them to have most things ready to box up straight away. Chick-fil-A is also pretty damn fast. On several occasions, my food was ready before I finished paying. In fact, this is a regular occurrence, although that's probably the result of me ordering the chicken sandwich, arguably their most popular item (an item they always have ready to go). The slowest place is definitely Five Guys, although you could argue they aren't fast food.

[Scott5114]

Chick-Fil-A "cheats" by having their sandwich come with no condiments at all other than pickles. Thus they can just spam the default sandwich at everyone and not have to worry about "chicken sandwich, no mayo" orders because there's no mayo to take off in the first place.

[ftballfan]

The Arby's near me is usually quite fast; there are times that I have had my order ready before I was finished filling up my drink

[Brandon]

Some restaurants may choose to focus more on order accuracy than speed of service. Bad order accuracy usually causes more problems than bad SOS, so it's a logical sacrifice to make.

I'd rather have it right than super speedy (and sitting out on a shelf half the damn day).

[abefroman329]

Panda Express moves people through the lines extremely fast, probably the fastest of any chain I eat at somewhat regularly.

I got food from a Panda Express at the Phoenix airport and it took an unbelievably long time to get through the line.  That may have been because everyone in line was talking on their cell phones, though.

I used to live across the street from a Panda Express, and every time I went there, it would take forever to get my food because they invariably needed to cook a fresh batch of crab Rangoon.

[abefroman329]

Chick-Fil-A "cheats" by having their sandwich come with no condiments at all other than pickles. Thus they can just spam the default sandwich at everyone and not have to worry about "chicken sandwich, no mayo" orders because there's no mayo to take off in the first place.

Same with White Castle; Sliders only come with pickles and onions.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

KFC is one that I've been sitting inside for a long time, while they churn out the Drive-Thru orders very quickly.

KFC! Ewww... The joint restaurant with Taco Bell and KFC in Greenwood, AR closed up shop recently and now it's just Taco Diarrhea.

KFC used to be good... not any more!

[adventurernumber1]

The slowest place is definitely Five Guys, although you could argue they aren't fast food.

My mom and I were waiting for our food in a Five Guys recently (maybe a few weeks ago), and we were talking about the speed, and how it probably took longer than other places because they make everything fresh there (burgers, fries, etc.). The food is definitely worth the wait, and fresh, homeade stuff is much better than anything that is too processed. That's the way to go!   

Some restaurants may choose to focus more on order accuracy than speed of service. Bad order accuracy usually causes more problems than bad SOS, so it's a logical sacrifice to make.

I'd rather have it right than super speedy (and sitting out on a shelf half the damn day).

I agree with this as well! And if your order is wrong, then more time ends up being wasted in the end anyway, while it is being corrected.   

Chick-Fil-A "cheats" by having their sandwich come with no condiments at all other than pickles. Thus they can just spam the default sandwich at everyone and not have to worry about "chicken sandwich, no mayo" orders because there's no mayo to take off in the first place.

Same with White Castle; Sliders only come with pickles and onions.

However, problems do arise with that when you highly dislike onions like me - this is why these days I usually just get the chicken sliders at Krystal (which is pretty much the "White Castle" down in my neck of the woods). I used to always get the burger sliders, but I would spend 20 minutes picking each and every onion off, so that got old after a decade of doing that every time I went to a Krystal (as they were bad about not leaving off the onions even though I asked that they were).     

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

My mom and I were waiting for our food in a Five Guys recently (maybe a few weeks ago), and we were talking about the speed, and how it probably took longer than other places because they make everything fresh there (burgers, fries, etc.). The food is definitely worth the wait, and fresh, homemade stuff is much better than anything that is too processed. That's the way to go!   

They're already a chain and Chic-fil-a started out the same way with fresh ingredients, and then they wanted to have a consistent taste across the rest of the franchise and now look.

[MNHighwayMan]

Chick-Fil-A "cheats" by having their sandwich come with no condiments at all other than pickles. Thus they can just spam the default sandwich at everyone and not have to worry about "chicken sandwich, no mayo" orders because there's no mayo to take off in the first place.

Same with White Castle; Sliders only come with pickles and onions.

However, problems do arise with that when you highly dislike onions like me - this is why these days I usually just get the chicken sliders at Krystal (which is pretty much the "White Castle" down in my neck of the woods). I used to always get the burger sliders, but I would spend 20 minutes picking each and every onion off, so that got old after a decade of doing that every time I went to a Krystal (as they were bad about not leaving off the onions even though I asked that they were).     

That's because of the way the burgers are cooked at a White Castle/Krystal. They're cooked with the onions. It's difficult to remove them for that reason.

But that doesn't matter to me. I LOVE White Castle. I just wish the nearest location to me wasn't in the Twin Cities. (C'mon, there's gotta be a market for one somewhere in the Des Moines metro area...)

[hbelkins]

I haven't found any fast food places to be commendably fast. Of course, I tend to special order sandwiches that aren't pre-made. If I'm on the road and driving, I'll get any burger I order plain because I don't want to deal with sauces or condiments dripping onto my shirt. If I'm taking my food back to the office, or to a motel room if I'm traveling, I'll get a special order because I don't like pickles, onions, mayo or tomatoes, so if a burger comes with that stuff, I don't want it contaminating my sandwich.

Of the three burger places in the town where I work, Wendy's tends to be the fastest, and typically has the shortest drive-through line. The line at McDonald's is often long, and if I go by there to order lunch and the line is backed up, I'll turn around and go to Wendy's. Hardee's takes forever to prepare and serve food.

[doorknob60]

Around the Boise area, from fastest to slowest:

1. Jimmy Johns (I mean, it's almost cheating to put them here, that's their thing)
2. Chick-Fil-A (they are fast even when they're very busy)
3. Burger King (consistently fast, even though when I lived in Bend BK was the slowest)
4. McDonald's
5. Taco Time
6. Del Taco
7. Arby's
8. Taco John's
--- Above this line is what I consider good, below is inconsistent or bad ---
9. KFC/A&W (around me they are combined locations)
10. Sonic (they tend to be inconsistent, also varies by location a lot)
11. Carl's Jr
12. Taco Bell (very inconsistent)
13. Wendy's (I'm not sure why they are so poor around here, they just can't keep up with the lines)

Didn't put any restaurants I'm not too familiar with (like Popeye's), and didn't put Subway because that's fully dependent on how many people are there (moreso than the others).

[abefroman329]

The next day at a Cracker Barrel in Bay City, Michigan I walked in at 7:25pm and was walking out at 7:45pm. I got to the hostess stand the hostess sat me right away, the server came to the table right away and I already knew what I wanted so I put in my drink order and food order at the same time. About 4 minutes later I had my food. Now my Cracker Barrel experience is how it's suppose to be done.

That sounds highly dependent on what you ordered and whether it's feasible to pre-cook mass quantities of it, though.  If you ordered, say, soup, chicken and dumplings, and cornbread, I would expect it to come out in 4 minutes.

[adventurernumber1]

The next day at a Cracker Barrel in Bay City, Michigan I walked in at 7:25pm and was walking out at 7:45pm. I got to the hostess stand the hostess sat me right away, the server came to the table right away and I already knew what I wanted so I put in my drink order and food order at the same time. About 4 minutes later I had my food. Now my Cracker Barrel experience is how it's suppose to be done.

That sounds highly dependent on what you ordered and whether it's feasible to pre-cook mass quantities of it, though.  If you ordered, say, soup, chicken and dumplings, and cornbread, I would expect it to come out in 4 minutes.

Whenever my family goes to Cracker Barrel, it usually takes close to an hour (or 30 or 45 minutes). Usually, we eat breakfast there (though a few times we've been there for lunch and dinner, and I've gotten something like a cheeseburger with bacon on it). I get pancakes, bacon, eggs, and biscuits. It appears to be all homemade and delicious, and it is definitely worth the wait. I assumed that the fresh and high-quality food (and the quantity and type of food) was why it usually takes so long when I go there.

[abefroman329]

The next day at a Cracker Barrel in Bay City, Michigan I walked in at 7:25pm and was walking out at 7:45pm. I got to the hostess stand the hostess sat me right away, the server came to the table right away and I already knew what I wanted so I put in my drink order and food order at the same time. About 4 minutes later I had my food. Now my Cracker Barrel experience is how it's suppose to be done.

That sounds highly dependent on what you ordered and whether it's feasible to pre-cook mass quantities of it, though.  If you ordered, say, soup, chicken and dumplings, and cornbread, I would expect it to come out in 4 minutes.

Whenever my family goes to Cracker Barrel, it usually takes close to an hour (or 30 or 45 minutes). Usually, we eat breakfast there (though a few times we've been there for lunch and dinner, and I've gotten something like a cheeseburger with bacon on it). I get pancakes, bacon, eggs, and biscuits. It appears to be all homemade and delicious, and it is definitely worth the wait. I assumed that the fresh and high-quality food (and the quantity and type of food) was why it usually takes so long when I go there.

It takes so long because a) breakfast is prime time for the Cracker Barrel and b) at least two, possibly three, of those foods can't be cooked before you order them.