Double Lane Drive Thrus

[Roadrunner75]

Somewhat off topic, but could we see fast food chains build drive-thru only locations?

A McDonald's outside of Fort Lewis, Washington used to be drive-thru only, using limited space available.  2008 Street View.  They've since expanded to a normal McDonald's.

There's also such a thing as a McDonald's Express which has walk-in service but no dining area. They are mainly attached to gas stations.

McDonald's Express was big for a while, in the late 1990s.  Perhaps seeing how Subway is able to squeeze in to small locations, McDonald's tried the same thing, slipping into strip mall store fronts with no drive-thru.  They had a limited menu: no Quarter Pounders.  Only Big Macs and Hamburgers/Cheeseburgers.  No shakes.  This was the first McDonald's where you could draw your own soft drink.  The Downtown Bremerton, Washington full-service McDonald's closed and an Express opened the next block over.  When the Express concept died or got scaled drastically back, Downtown Bremerton no longer had a McDonald's, which is an interesting feat for a chain that claims to have very few locations close due to lack of business.  They carried over customers drawing their own soft drinks to the main restaurants, but it seemed like another bad idea to come along after the Arch Deluxe.

There's the problem right there.  How did they expect to survive without Quarter Pounders and Shakes?  There would go our business...

[1995hoo]

Checkers is the original but you have to have power windows on your passenger side or have that seat occupied.

I'm curious how many cars there are these days, other than older cars still on the road, that don't have power windows.

[ilpt4u]

Checkers is the original but you have to have power windows on your passenger side or have that seat occupied.

I'm curious how many cars there are these days, other than older cars still on the road, that don't have power windows.

A lot of work vehicles/trucks do not. Every work truck/van I have driven in my Telecom career has hand-crank windows, to this day

[webny99]

Whataburger and Sonics around here at peak hours have you pull into a second designated space alongside the pickup window and bring your food out to you. Not quite a double lane drive thru, but I guess it counts.

Dairy Queen does something similar that I've never seen at any other drive thru: if you pull up to the pick-up window, and your order is not ready by the time you've paid, they have you pull ahead to a designated point and bring your order out when it's ready. That way, they can continue to serve the people behind you, and the line keeps moving. Smart on their part, although a bit counter intuitive to do that and still call it "fast food"... I guess that's why their mantra is "fan food, not fast food"!

I see a lot of chains around here, not just Dairy Queen, doing that if there is enough space available. A local McDonalds had 2 or 3 designated spots, if I remember correctly.

Yeah, McDonalds often has designated parking spots, but Dairy Queen is a bit different. It's not actual parking spots, its just a spot to pull up and wait about two car lengths past the normal pick up window.

[debragga]

Whataburger and Sonics around here at peak hours have you pull into a second designated space alongside the pickup window and bring your food out to you. Not quite a double lane drive thru, but I guess it counts.

Dairy Queen does something similar that I've never seen at any other drive thru: if you pull up to the pick-up window, and your order is not ready by the time you've paid, they have you pull ahead to a designated point and bring your order out when it's ready. That way, they can continue to serve the people behind you, and the line keeps moving. Smart on their part, although a bit counter intuitive to do that and still call it "fast food"... I guess that's why their mantra is "fan food, not fast food"!

I see a lot of chains around here, not just Dairy Queen, doing that if there is enough space available. A local McDonalds had 2 or 3 designated spots, if I remember correctly.

When I worked at Raising Cane's, we called that "pulling" the car. We in the kitchen would say "pull em!" if it was an order that we knew would take a while, especially if there was a smaller order right behind them.

[MikeTheActuary]

Apparently a new/relocated Chick-fil-a in Memphis, identified as being probably the largest in Tennessee, has a dual-lane drive through:



Not sure how that works (it's near my usual hotel in Memphis, but I probably won't be going back down there until my father's assisted living facility allows visitors again)...but OK.

It's located at the southwest corner of US64 and Germantown parkway, if anyone's curious.  (As of this writing, Google Maps shows the location of the former location; it's just a building or two north, at the site of a former Walgreens.)

[kevinb1994]

Apparently a new/relocated Chick-fil-a in Memphis, identified as being probably the largest in Tennessee, has a dual-lane drive through:



Not sure how that works (it's near my usual hotel in Memphis, but I probably won't be going back down there until my father's assisted living facility allows visitors again)...but OK.

It's located at the southwest corner of US64 and Germantown parkway, if anyone's curious.  (As of this writing, Google Maps shows the location of the former location; it's just a building or two north, at the site of a former Walgreens.)

Cue the Little Feat classic

[Bruce]

There's a few places around Seattle that have single-lane drive thrus but two speakers/boards so that two cars can place their orders. Prevents merge conflicts as well, so I imagine it's easier to track which order should go in which order.

[UCFKnights]

Which fast food restaurants in your area have double lane (2 order point) drive thrus?

I've only ever seen this at McDonald's and Chick-Fil-A. The latter usually has pretty quick service, but with regards to McDonald's, I haven't noticed that the extra order point significantly reduces the wait times. Everyone still has to line up single file for the pick-up window, so it ends up backing up the line for the window longer than it would be otherwise.

Someone crashed into the second order point at my local McDonalds, and it definitely made it take significantly longer to get your orders.

The problem is some people don't know what they want or have larger orders with customized items while the vast majority of people can order in 30 seconds or less. You're holding up all those 30 second people for the person who takes 3 minutes to order with only a single lane, while the dual lane generally allows most of those people to bypass the slow orderer.

It also allows them to play a few other games to be able to serve more people.  Occasionally on those orders, they'll have you wait a little longer to get your total and before they tell you to go to the next window to try to let another car in front of you, knowing its going to take longer to get your food ready, so they can keep vehicles moving and not have a chokepoint waiting for the longer order.

My McDonalds during peak times used to run (pre pandemic) a "guaranteed in 60 seconds" promotion during their peak hours (when they're fully staffed). If you ordered with no item customizations and within a maximum order size, they'd give you an 1 minute hourglass along with your receipt after you pay, and if it ran out by the time your food was ready at the second window, they'd give you a free item, such as a big mac to reinforce how fast the drive thru line moved. Typically if you did customize anything too complicated that it could cause a delay in the line, they'd sent you straight to a designated parking spot after paying.

Even in off peak where they sometimes have one person running both lanes, it probably takes a good 15 seconds for one person to pull forward and the next to line up with the speaker  box to be ready to order. With the second lane, that person is ready, still getting the order 15 seconds/person faster to the kitchen, which given the queue size is at least a minute faster if they busy.

[jakeroot]

I don't know of a more appropriate thread.

Most of the McDonalds around me have double lanes. But there is one that is still single lane. It's attached to a Chevron.

The weird part about this one is that there are three windows: one about two car-lengths after the order box, another shortly after that on the corner, and a final window around the corner.

I used to live near this McDonalds, and frequented it sparingly (it was the furthest of all the fast food options so didn't go too often). I cannot recall seeing the first window (far left of image below) ever being used.

Are there any triple-window setups near you guys? For McDonalds, especially? I believe this is the only one in my area that has this setup (apart from this identical "McChevron" just down the 512 freeway to the west -- edit: as well as every other one as well, whenever they were built). Weirdly, the first window was maintained when the restaurant was remodeled a few years ago.



Edit: the other identical location has better Street View imagery. Note that the second window is actually marked "1", and the first window is, apart from the logos, blank. Back in 2016, the far window was marked as "3", and the now-blank window was marked as "1". The second window did not have a sign (probably fell off).

[jakeroot]

To follow up my prior post:

It seems that, in the 1990s, McDonalds experimented with in-person drive-thru ordering. The Chevrons in my area were all built during this period, and thus had that feature. Apparently, for those built during that period not attached to Chevrons (none in my area that I know of), the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders. Because of the borders of the drive-thrus in my examples, this wasn't possible, so the first window was apparently discontinued. Longer orders just pull a bit past the last window, as at most fast food restaurants.

[Scott5114]

Yes, I remember that the old McDonalds at 100 Ed Noble Parkway in Norman had that feature, which was marketed as "Face to Face" with the most 90s teal logo you can possibly imagine. The first window would just have a cashier in it that you would order from, although our McDonald's only had two windows, so you would pay immediately after ordering, then proceed to window 2.

I think the real reason for this was because the drive-thru speaker technology was not very good, so the poor audio quality from the copper-wire systems was often the cause of orders getting garbled in transit and resulting poor order accuracy. (I definitely remember these issues at other fast-food restaurants of the era.) Later on, wireless and VoIP technology drastically improved audio quality in these sorts of systems, so the speaker box made its return, making the later two-lane drive-thrus possible.

It's kind of amazing in hindsight that McDonald's once had three windows open and running, considering that many other fast-food restaurants around here usually close window 1 to save on labor costs. (At the Burger King I managed, it was rare that I would get to open window 1, even though I wanted to, because there was usually just not enough employees scheduled to do it. Of course, everyone was so used to proceeding directly to window 2 that they'd just blow past 1 in the rare event it was open.)

[RobbieL2415]

To follow up my prior post:

It seems that, in the 1990s, McDonalds experimented with in-person drive-thru ordering. The Chevrons in my area were all built during this period, and thus had that feature. Apparently, for those built during that period not attached to Chevrons (none in my area that I know of), the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders. Because of the borders of the drive-thrus in my examples, this wasn't possible, so the first window was apparently discontinued. Longer orders just pull a bit past the last window, as at most fast food restaurants.

This has got to explain why one near me has three windows and uses only two.

[Pink Jazz]

I think the first McDonalds' locations with two-lane drive thrus appeared sometime in the late 1990s; there is one that opened in 1999 close to my house that has a two-lane drive thru.  I'm not sure if it had it originally or if it was retrofitted.  It was remodeled in 2018, but the two-lane drive thru was there before the remodel.

[jeffandnicole]

To follow up my prior post:

It seems that, in the 1990s, McDonalds experimented with in-person drive-thru ordering. The Chevrons in my area were all built during this period, and thus had that feature. Apparently, for those built during that period not attached to Chevrons (none in my area that I know of), the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders. Because of the borders of the drive-thrus in my examples, this wasn't possible, so the first window was apparently discontinued. Longer orders just pull a bit past the last window, as at most fast food restaurants.

This has got to explain why one near me has three windows and uses only two.

It was basically a short lived experiment. I saw one or two myself. To make it work, you would need all 3 windows staffed nearly all the time. Obviously labor costs for this type setup were way too expensive...and when they didn't want to operate 3 windows, they didn't have a speaker box, so the 1st window was order and pay, which slowed things down even in slower times.

[tdindy88]

I never realized it until now but Indianapolis has at least two McDonalds that are that same exact style, only they were never associated with Chevrons as that gas station has never been around the city, as far as I know. Both McDonalds are conjoined with BP gas stations, but the design is identical.

[UCFKnights]

Are there any triple-window setups near you guys? For McDonalds, especially? I believe this is the only one in my area that has this setup (apart from this identical "McChevron" just down the 512 freeway to the west -- edit: as well as every other one as well, whenever they were built). Weirdly, the first window was maintained when the restaurant was remodeled a few years ago.

McDonalds has actively been adding a third window as the restaurants get renovated around here. The third window is usually located in the lobby area and only used when they tell you to pull forward, so the employees don't need to go outside for the first car that they tell to pull forward.

[ftballfan]

The McDonalds in Manistee, MI (built in the early/mid 1990s and not attached to a gas station) used to have three windows. I think there are only two now.

[kphoger]

the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders.

I like this idea.  Saves the employees from having to run outside in the cold and the rain.

[Scott5114]

The Whataburger in Norman has a third window, apparently for this purpose, but I've never seen them actually use it.

[Eth]

To follow up my prior post:

It seems that, in the 1990s, McDonalds experimented with in-person drive-thru ordering. The Chevrons in my area were all built during this period, and thus had that feature. Apparently, for those built during that period not attached to Chevrons (none in my area that I know of), the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders. Because of the borders of the drive-thrus in my examples, this wasn't possible, so the first window was apparently discontinued. Longer orders just pull a bit past the last window, as at most fast food restaurants.

Interesting. There's a McD's near me that's attached to a Chevron, but I haven't used its drive-thru (there's a standalone McD's that's closer) so I don't know if it has this setup.

[jakeroot]

To everyone: thank you for all the replies! Glad to see I'm not the only one who finds those three-window setups interesting .

the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders.

I like this idea.  Saves the employees from having to run outside in the cold and the rain.

Totally. Like I said, I've heard those early 90s McDonalds that had a third window without a buffer/vegetation around the drive-thru were repurposed, but those in my area were not able to do so because there was no way for drivers to leave the drive-thru directly from the second window without driving past the third window. Kind of unfortunate, and led to the situation today where that first window is either covered up, or removed...

I never realized it until now but Indianapolis has at least two McDonalds that are that same exact style, only they were never associated with Chevrons as that gas station has never been around the city, as far as I know. Both McDonalds are conjoined with BP gas stations, but the design is identical.

I found at least one of them (there doesn't appear to be a catchy name in Indy like "McChevron" for the bp/McDonalds locations), and they appear to have actually filled in that first window. You can sort of see the outline where the window used to be. Clearly they've since painted as, besides the outline of the old window, the colors of the stone are exactly the same (unlikely if the extra stone was added later).

To follow up my prior post:

It seems that, in the 1990s, McDonalds experimented with in-person drive-thru ordering. The Chevrons in my area were all built during this period, and thus had that feature. Apparently, for those built during that period not attached to Chevrons (none in my area that I know of), the first window instead became a payment window, the second a pick-up window, and the third an extra window for longer orders. Because of the borders of the drive-thrus in my examples, this wasn't possible, so the first window was apparently discontinued. Longer orders just pull a bit past the last window, as at most fast food restaurants.

Interesting. There's a McD's near me that's attached to a Chevron, but I haven't used its drive-thru (there's a standalone McD's that's closer) so I don't know if it has this setup.

You'll have to compare it to the other designs mentioned in this thread. It seems like most of them were attached to gas stations built in the early 1990s. Any standalone non-gas station three-window setups have likely been eliminated as part of remodels by now. Cosmetic-only remodels might still show evidence (like an oddly-blank wall, or a part of the building that's very close to the drive-thru for no reason).

[kphoger]

I've heard those early 90s McDonalds that had a third window without a buffer/vegetation around the drive-thru were repurposed, but those in my area were not able to do so because there was no way for drivers to leave the drive-thru directly from the second window without driving past the third window. Kind of unfortunate, and led to the situation today where that first window is either covered up, or removed...

I don't see the problem.  At my local Chick-fil-A, the crew often has me pull forward past the window if my order isn't ready, even though there's no way for the driver behind me to go around.  That way, at least they can begin serving the person behind me, even if he then has to still wait for me.  Not only does doing it that way potentially free up an employee (both of us having already been served by the time I leave, rather than just me), but there's also a halfway decent chance that my order will have been delivered to me by the time the driver behind me is actually ready to drive away.

[zachary_amaryllis]

Someone crashed into the second order point at my local McDonalds, and it definitely made it take significantly longer to get your orders.

The problem is some people don't know what they want or have larger orders with customized items while the vast majority of people can order in 30 seconds or less. You're holding up all those 30 second people for the person who takes 3 minutes to order with only a single lane, while the dual lane generally allows most of those people to bypass the slow orderer.

It also allows them to play a few other games to be able to serve more people.  Occasionally on those orders, they'll have you wait a little longer to get your total and before they tell you to go to the next window to try to let another car in front of you, knowing its going to take longer to get your food ready, so they can keep vehicles moving and not have a chokepoint waiting for the longer order.

My McDonalds during peak times used to run (pre pandemic) a "guaranteed in 60 seconds" promotion during their peak hours (when they're fully staffed). If you ordered with no item customizations and within a maximum order size, they'd give you an 1 minute hourglass along with your receipt after you pay, and if it ran out by the time your food was ready at the second window, they'd give you a free item, such as a big mac to reinforce how fast the drive thru line moved. Typically if you did customize anything too complicated that it could cause a delay in the line, they'd sent you straight to a designated parking spot after paying.

Even in off peak where they sometimes have one person running both lanes, it probably takes a good 15 seconds for one person to pull forward and the next to line up with the speaker  box to be ready to order. With the second lane, that person is ready, still getting the order 15 seconds/person faster to the kitchen, which given the queue size is at least a minute faster if they busy.

i worked at a mcd's that had the 2-lane ordering.. what (i felt) bogged things down.. was the 1st window guy, collected money for both lanes, and took orders on the inside lane.

the 2nd window guy, took orders for the outside lane, and handed out food for both lanes..

many times, the 2nd window guy was so busy either handing out food, or taking an order, that the line bogged out. my solution, was that i wore two headsets at the back window, and ran both lanes. it takes a little practice (ok, mcd's isn't rocket science) but if one is good, and can keep stuff straight, he can take two orders at once, and sort everyone out at the window. i could do this, and i had a lightning fast kid running the front window, and we were mc-slingin' people through.

[Scott5114]

That was always the problem with having the first window open at Burger King–if there's a holdup at the second window, the line will back up past the first window, so the first-window guy is just kind of standing around not doing anything.