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Author Topic: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets  (Read 22007 times)

plain

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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #25 on: February 22, 2022, 06:33:48 PM »

The Chick-Fil-A drive-thru in Springfield, Virginia, is notorious for that

I'm surprised to see a chickfila in a strip mall like that. I haven't seen that before.

There's one in the Willow Lawn shopping center just down the street from the Cookout and Krispy Kreme I mentioned a couple posts back...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AM1hsadSUuTnPTeH6

... which is literally right across Broad St from a standalone one

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i7TRFQEJadCArjuB9

And both are usually busy.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #26 on: February 22, 2022, 06:41:47 PM »

Basically every Chick-fil-A in Western Washington. Some were built in the worst possible spots almost to purposely induce such lines. The Bellevue, WA location wraps several times onto the I-405 offramp!

When the In-N-Out opened here in Aurora, it caused backups onto I-225 because there was so much traffic exiting onto Alameda.  I drove by it wondering if there was an accident before I realized what it was.  It's obviously gotten better since than opening week.  Too many Cali transplants out here I guess.

14 hours when it opened, apparently. Just ridiculous.


Daaaammmnnnn that is absolutely ridiculous. That's up there with the craziness at Popeyes when the chicken sandwich first came out. Maybe even more so!
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #27 on: February 22, 2022, 07:12:20 PM »

Popeyes in Green Bay had a 1/4 mile backup when it opened in 2020.  Not sure who bad the backups will be when the first area Chick-fil-A opens in suburban Ashwaubenon in a couple weeks.
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webny99

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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #28 on: February 22, 2022, 07:36:19 PM »

Aside from the usual (and in my opinion, overrated) Chick Fil A ...

The Chick Fil A's here often back up too, especially the Ridge Road one, but less so now that they have a third location in the area.

I agree that their regular lunch/dinner menu is overrated, but I actually think their breakfast is underrated. If I had to pick a meal to go there, I'd easily pick breakfast. Not only is it better, you avoid the crowds and hardly ever have to wait in much of a line.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #29 on: February 22, 2022, 09:24:11 PM »

Seeing a lot of this lately, and I think its getting worse. Too many places don't have their dining room open for whatever reason and so everyone is stuck in the drive through.

The worst I ever saw was in the first few months of COVID, saw a Chick Fil A with a line that wrapped around the building and trapped the first layer of cars in before exiting out onto a side street and going another block.

Plenty of places here have dining rooms open AND have the lines at the drive thru. I think people’s preferences have changed.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #30 on: February 22, 2022, 09:36:25 PM »

Seeing a lot of this lately, and I think its getting worse. Too many places don't have their dining room open for whatever reason and so everyone is stuck in the drive through.

The worst I ever saw was in the first few months of COVID, saw a Chick Fil A with a line that wrapped around the building and trapped the first layer of cars in before exiting out onto a side street and going another block.

Plenty of places here have dining rooms open AND have the lines at the drive thru. I think people’s preferences have changed.

There was that period of time where lobbies reopened for takeout but seating remained closed, which made going inside pointless for most people who tried and they probably (for now) don't want to bother with it.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #31 on: February 22, 2022, 09:50:36 PM »

Seeing a lot of this lately, and I think its getting worse. Too many places don't have their dining room open for whatever reason and so everyone is stuck in the drive through.

The worst I ever saw was in the first few months of COVID, saw a Chick Fil A with a line that wrapped around the building and trapped the first layer of cars in before exiting out onto a side street and going another block.

Plenty of places here have dining rooms open AND have the lines at the drive thru. I think people’s preferences have changed.
Unfortunately that does seem to be the case.  DiBella's used to have people go right up to a sub maker, give their order, have their sub made right in front of them, get handed it, and walk to the checkout.  It worked well.  The only waiting was the line for the next available sub maker, if it was busy.  Since the pandemic began, however, now they require people to take a number, give their order to someone who writes it down and puts it in the queue, pay (verbally telling the cashier what you ordered), and then wait for your number to be called.  This system prioritizes online and phone orders over in-restaurant ones, and the wait is a lot longer than it used to be.  I thought it was just a pandemic safety measure, but they took down the plexiglass sometime over the last month, so clearly it has more staying power than I thought.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #32 on: February 22, 2022, 09:56:25 PM »

When this happens at drive-thrus, the drive-thru restaurant should raise its prices until customer queues no longer back up onto public roads.

It's called congestion pricing.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #33 on: February 22, 2022, 10:06:55 PM »

Seeing a lot of this lately, and I think its getting worse. Too many places don't have their dining room open for whatever reason and so everyone is stuck in the drive through.

The worst I ever saw was in the first few months of COVID, saw a Chick Fil A with a line that wrapped around the building and trapped the first layer of cars in before exiting out onto a side street and going another block.

Plenty of places here have dining rooms open AND have the lines at the drive thru. I think people’s preferences have changed.

No, if you have many dining rooms closed that will cause this type of congestion. It does not matter if half of them remain open, the overall effect is still to reduce capacity.
Moreover, the underlying driver of both is slower, poorer quality service driven by a lack of help. Some places are slow because of it, others have their dining rooms closed, and many are suffering both effects.
Pretty sure people did not suddenly prefer cold food in a soggy bag to dining in overnight.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #34 on: February 22, 2022, 10:09:51 PM »

Here in So Cal a Cane's opened nearby last April.  The lines were so long, they backed up on to Hawthorne Blvd (CA SR 107), a major arterial street.  The super-long lines and backups went on for months.  More recently, the lines have not been bad at all, and they do not back up into the street anymore.  The lure of Cane's? It was a bright new shiny object that attracted people who were eager for a change of pace.  We have plenty of fast food choices around here.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #35 on: February 22, 2022, 11:07:38 PM »

My local version of this involves four different establishments adjacent to Bass Pro Shops. Raising Cane's, Chick-Fil-A, Starbucks, and McDonalds have at one point or another, caused backups on to west-bound Sunshine Street, a major east-west arterial for the city. Below is a diagram of the signed overflow route, used to prevent Sunshine from backing up by allowing customers to enter through the back side of Chick-Fil-A, McDonalds, or Starbucks.

I'll snap a picture of the signs soon-ish, driving during tomorrow/Thursday's icy weather doesn't sound appealing.

Cane's lines still occasionally wrap around the building, but during the first 3 weeks of business (circa Nov. 2020), the police had to assist in directing the heavy traffic, which regularly backed up on to Sunshine. The Cane's line setup is also potentially dangerous. Here is a diagram of the convoluted setup:



People in this town really like to clog their arteries, then proceed to, you guessed it, clog their arteries...
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #36 on: February 22, 2022, 11:11:28 PM »

The In’n’Out on Shaw Avenue westbound approaching CA 99 (in Fresno) always backups a couple yards into traffic daily.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #37 on: February 23, 2022, 08:05:57 AM »

Seeing a lot of this lately, and I think its getting worse. Too many places don't have their dining room open for whatever reason and so everyone is stuck in the drive through.

The worst I ever saw was in the first few months of COVID, saw a Chick Fil A with a line that wrapped around the building and trapped the first layer of cars in before exiting out onto a side street and going another block.

Plenty of places here have dining rooms open AND have the lines at the drive thru. I think people’s preferences have changed.

No, if you have many dining rooms closed that will cause this type of congestion. It does not matter if half of them remain open, the overall effect is still to reduce capacity.
Moreover, the underlying driver of both is slower, poorer quality service driven by a lack of help. Some places are slow because of it, others have their dining rooms closed, and many are suffering both effects.
Pretty sure people did not suddenly prefer cold food in a soggy bag to dining in overnight.



Per usual, you don't know what you are talking about.  Where I live, ALL restaurants are open.  Every fast food place has their dining room completely open. and ready for service  At the Culvers I mentioned, I sat in a half-full dining room last week while there was a long line of cars waiting to place orders and pick up food.  And they are pretty good at it because when I have done the same, my food has neither been cold nor soggy.

So yes, I feel pretty confident in saying that customer preferences have changed.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #38 on: February 23, 2022, 08:29:44 AM »

Seeing a lot of this lately, and I think its getting worse. Too many places don't have their dining room open for whatever reason and so everyone is stuck in the drive through.

The worst I ever saw was in the first few months of COVID, saw a Chick Fil A with a line that wrapped around the building and trapped the first layer of cars in before exiting out onto a side street and going another block.

Plenty of places here have dining rooms open AND have the lines at the drive thru. I think people’s preferences have changed.

No, if you have many dining rooms closed that will cause this type of congestion. It does not matter if half of them remain open, the overall effect is still to reduce capacity.
Moreover, the underlying driver of both is slower, poorer quality service driven by a lack of help. Some places are slow because of it, others have their dining rooms closed, and many are suffering both effects.
Pretty sure people did not suddenly prefer cold food in a soggy bag to dining in overnight.



Per usual, you don't know what you are talking about.  Where I live, ALL restaurants are open.  Every fast food place has their dining room completely open. and ready for service  At the Culvers I mentioned, I sat in a half-full dining room last week while there was a long line of cars waiting to place orders and pick up food.  And they are pretty good at it because when I have done the same, my food has neither been cold nor soggy.

So yes, I feel pretty confident in saying that customer preferences have changed.

In our area, even well prior to the pandemic the drive-thru lines were often insanely long, at least in some locations, to the point where you would get your food much more quickly if you'd simply parked, gone inside, ordered "to go," and taken your food back out to the car and been on your way. The KFC/Taco Bell seen in a Street View link in an earlier post of mine in this thread was an excellent example of such a location–I mentioned it on this forum in 2013. I suspect, but do not know, that many of the people using the drive-thru despite the long lines are parents with small children in the car who view it as too much of a nuisance to get the kids out of the car to go inside and order "to go" or who are unwilling to leave the kids in the locked car while doing so. I suppose I can understand their approach in either instance even if I somewhat roll my eyes overall.

I do wonder how many of the people who spend lengthy periods of time idling while waiting on line for drive-thru service are the same people who constantly complain about the high price of gas. (There's no law that says you can't turn off your car while you wait, but very few people seem to do that other than people whose cars have auto idle stop or–in what amounts to the same thing in practical terms–people who drive hybrids that run solely on electricity in that sort of situation.)
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #39 on: February 23, 2022, 08:57:35 AM »

Aside from the usual (and in my opinion, overrated) Chick Fil A, I can think of 3 places in the Richmond area where this happens sometimes, especially late night on Friday and Saturday.

Cookout on W. Broad St just inside city limits

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.58017,-77.49159,3a,75.0y,345.55096h,81.3536t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s03y4Ue7V6s-aehBk7_agXA!2e0


Just a block west of there, Krispy Kreme

https://maps.app.goo.gl/n3g2BBBDrogMFqdN6


Wendy's on Williamsburg Rd in eastern Henrico County

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kyzR8394fZDKHa2y5


The Cook Out on Midlothian Turnpike has the same problem. There is also a car wash next to it that tends to back up onto the road when it's busy (e.g. if it's snowed recently).
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #40 on: February 23, 2022, 09:34:24 AM »

Cane's lines still occasionally wrap around the building, but during the first 3 weeks of business (circa Nov. 2020), the police had to assist in directing the heavy traffic, which regularly backed up on to Sunshine. The Cane's line setup is also potentially dangerous. Here is a diagram of the convoluted setup:



People in this town really like to clog their arteries, then proceed to, you guessed it, clog their arteries...

Most fast food places here in Louisville are still drive thru only. I suspect that some will never reopen their dining rooms. (Fine by me).

Your diagram is often used at fast food places around Louisville. My favorite is this Chick-Fil-A. You enter the drive-thru from the right in right out on Ten Pin Lane (not Shelbyville Rd that entrance is for cheaters lol). You snake through the first parking lot, then you are put into a queue that circles the entire building. Then enter the two ordering lanes that circle the building again. So you end up circling the building twice. Because of their bollards, it is impossible to just enter the ordering lanes directly. So even when it is not busy, you must complete the circle.

https://goo.gl/maps/Vi2Y2HYHXjVfYdYQ9
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #41 on: February 23, 2022, 09:35:07 AM »

This Dunkin' in Dover NH has a rather ineffective sign. Of course, people still stop in the street.

https://goo.gl/maps/LTgsMWm76wnLm77y8
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #42 on: February 23, 2022, 09:40:38 AM »

This bagel shop in Reading, MA has the same issue. When MassDOT was putting MA 28 on a diet through town, the combination of work zone traffic and the weekend crowds there made it almost impossible to get through there. There is usually a police officer directing traffic and in fact it's so bad, that there are two lines. No indoor dining makes things worse.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5172897,-71.1034814,3a,75y,80.96h,82.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKGq2tvtqixPJQtn3C4aAhw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
« Last Edit: February 23, 2022, 09:43:12 AM by BlueOutback7 »
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #43 on: February 23, 2022, 10:58:20 AM »

Cane's lines still occasionally wrap around the building, but during the first 3 weeks of business (circa Nov. 2020), the police had to assist in directing the heavy traffic, which regularly backed up on to Sunshine. The Cane's line setup is also potentially dangerous. Here is a diagram of the convoluted setup:

(diagram omitted to reduce image duplication in the thread)


People in this town really like to clog their arteries, then proceed to, you guessed it, clog their arteries...

Most fast food places here in Louisville are still drive thru only. I suspect that some will never reopen their dining rooms. (Fine by me).

Your diagram is often used at fast food places around Louisville. My favorite is this Chick-Fil-A. You enter the drive-thru from the right in right out on Ten Pin Lane (not Shelbyville Rd that entrance is for cheaters lol). You snake through the first parking lot, then you are put into a queue that circles the entire building. Then enter the two ordering lanes that circle the building again. So you end up circling the building twice. Because of their bollards, it is impossible to just enter the ordering lanes directly. So even when it is not busy, you must complete the circle.

https://goo.gl/maps/Vi2Y2HYHXjVfYdYQ9

I've seen that at other Chick-Fil-A locations as well. The one near the Auto Train in Sanford, Florida, uses a similar system: You enter off Rinehart Road and make a right, loop around the parking lot, and form two lines to the ordering points, then merge into a single line to the pickup windows. We've never used the drive-thru there–we always park and go inside, especially because we usually stop there for breakfast after 17 hours on the train such that we just want to get up and stretch our legs for a bit–but I've never heard horns honking due to the traffic exiting the pickup lane having to cross the path of the queuing vehicles.

Also, because no post with Google Map links would be complete without a link to a location in the Center of the Known Universe (aka North Carolina), here's a Chick-Fil-A in Lumberton that uses a similar system except the exiting traffic makes a right turn across the drive-thru queuing lanes and all three lanes at that spot have a stop bar. (Again, we stopped and went inside at that location because we wanted a break from being in the car.)

What I find interesting about the Chick-Fil-A two-line ordering point coupled with a single-line pickup point is that it doesn't seem to cause order mixups. That is, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that there will be times when the cars leaving the ordering point don't necessarily alternate between lanes (perhaps one person had a much bigger order that took longer to place, perhaps one driver was an asshole who refused to take turns, who knows), but I don't generally hear anything about the wrong order being given to the wrong customer at the drive-thru. I'm sure it must happen, and given how some people seem to have a severe hatred of Chick-Fil-A I'd expect them to go on social media to bleat about anything negative to do with the chain, but it's not something I've heard.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #44 on: February 23, 2022, 11:02:27 AM »

given how some people seem to have a severe hatred of Chick-Fil-A I'd expect them to go on social media to bleat about anything negative to do with the chain

The people who hate the chain (I'm one of them) never go there at all, so they would never experience this.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #45 on: February 23, 2022, 11:30:26 AM »

Also, because no post with Google Map links would be complete without a link to a location in the Center of the Known Universe (aka North Carolina), here's a Chick-Fil-A in Lumberton that uses a similar system ...

 :-D :-D


What I find interesting about the Chick-Fil-A two-line ordering point coupled with a single-line pickup point is that it doesn't seem to cause order mixups. That is, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that there will be times when the cars leaving the ordering point don't necessarily alternate between lanes (perhaps one person had a much bigger order that took longer to place, perhaps one driver was an asshole who refused to take turns, who knows), but I don't generally hear anything about the wrong order being given to the wrong customer at the drive-thru. I'm sure it must happen, and given how some people seem to have a severe hatred of Chick-Fil-A I'd expect them to go on social media to bleat about anything negative to do with the chain, but it's not something I've heard.

One thing Chick Fil A does that other fast food restaurants don't, at least every time I've been there, is ask for a name on the order. I'm not sure if that's just a "customer service" gesture, similar to saying "my pleasure" after every thank you, or if it's somehow used to keep the orders straight internally.

And come to think of it...
My last visit to Chick Fil A was to the new one in Irondequoit, NY (you can see it under construction here), and that one has a setup I've never seen before: instead of merging and pulling up to a window to pick up your order, both lanes continue and you pull up under a roof, and your order gets brought out to you by the server through a set of double swing doors. So they could theoretically bring out multiple orders at once if there's a car in each lane (I was there in the morning, so the right lane was closed). I noticed on the sticker on the bag, in addition to my name, there was a description of my car in very large print. Now I wish I'd kept it, so I could share a picture of it here... the point being, of course, that they use the description of the car to help keep the orders straight. I haven't noticed if this is done at the restaurants with a normal pick up window, but I imagine it probably is - and I'll certainly think to notice it next time.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2022, 11:32:40 AM by webny99 »
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HighwayStar

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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #46 on: February 23, 2022, 11:41:41 AM »

Also, because no post with Google Map links would be complete without a link to a location in the Center of the Known Universe (aka North Carolina), here's a Chick-Fil-A in Lumberton that uses a similar system ...

 :-D :-D


What I find interesting about the Chick-Fil-A two-line ordering point coupled with a single-line pickup point is that it doesn't seem to cause order mixups. That is, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that there will be times when the cars leaving the ordering point don't necessarily alternate between lanes (perhaps one person had a much bigger order that took longer to place, perhaps one driver was an asshole who refused to take turns, who knows), but I don't generally hear anything about the wrong order being given to the wrong customer at the drive-thru. I'm sure it must happen, and given how some people seem to have a severe hatred of Chick-Fil-A I'd expect them to go on social media to bleat about anything negative to do with the chain, but it's not something I've heard.

One thing Chick Fil A does that other fast food restaurants don't, at least every time I've been there, is ask for a name on the order. I'm not sure if that's just a "customer service" gesture, similar to saying "my pleasure" after every thank you, or if it's somehow used to keep the orders straight internally.

And come to think of it...
My last visit to Chick Fil A was to the new one in Irondequoit, NY (you can see it under construction here), and that one has a setup I've never seen before: instead of merging and pulling up to a window to pick up your order, both lanes continue and you pull up under a roof, and your order gets brought out to you by the server through a set of double swing doors. So they could theoretically bring out multiple orders at once if there's a car in each lane (I was there in the morning, so the right lane was closed). I noticed on the sticker on the bag, in addition to my name, there was a description of my car in very large print. Now I wish I'd kept it, so I could share a picture of it here... the point being, of course, that they use the description of the car to help keep the orders straight. I haven't noticed if this is done at the restaurants with a normal pick up window, but I imagine it probably is - and I'll certainly think to notice it next time.

I love chick Fil A and make a point to eat there as much as I can, but the last one I went to was bizarre in that the dining room had been half roped off and signed as a "staff area" supposedly to support the drive through options.

What I don't like about this trend is it seems dangerously trending to getting rid of dine in as a cost cutting measure.
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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #47 on: February 23, 2022, 11:54:23 AM »

Birdcall >>>>>> Chick-Fil-A.  Too bad only in Arizona and Colorado currently.  And I feel much better spending my money there.

abefroman329

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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #48 on: February 23, 2022, 11:56:03 AM »

What I find interesting about the Chick-Fil-A two-line ordering point coupled with a single-line pickup point is that it doesn't seem to cause order mixups. That is, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that there will be times when the cars leaving the ordering point don't necessarily alternate between lanes (perhaps one person had a much bigger order that took longer to place, perhaps one driver was an asshole who refused to take turns, who knows), but I don't generally hear anything about the wrong order being given to the wrong customer at the drive-thru.

Most of the McDonalds near me have dual ordering points in the drive-thru as well, and it sorts itself out when you pull up to pay.  I don't know if there's any kind of communication between the first and second window when the cars aren't in the same order as the orders, but I've never left with someone else's order, either.
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1995hoo

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Re: Drive-thru's backing up onto streets
« Reply #49 on: February 23, 2022, 11:57:18 AM »

given how some people seem to have a severe hatred of Chick-Fil-A I'd expect them to go on social media to bleat about anything negative to do with the chain

The people who hate the chain (I'm one of them) never go there at all, so they would never experience this.

In my observation, that wouldn't matter: People like to rant about things and if they can find something they deem negative about a place or thing they don't like, they will cite it as somehow "proving" their opinion that said place is bad. I can think of someone on this forum (not you) who uses that thought process in various discussions, though I won't name usernames.



What I find interesting about the Chick-Fil-A two-line ordering point coupled with a single-line pickup point is that it doesn't seem to cause order mixups. That is, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that there will be times when the cars leaving the ordering point don't necessarily alternate between lanes (perhaps one person had a much bigger order that took longer to place, perhaps one driver was an asshole who refused to take turns, who knows), but I don't generally hear anything about the wrong order being given to the wrong customer at the drive-thru.

Most of the McDonalds near me have dual ordering points in the drive-thru as well, and it sorts itself out when you pull up to pay.  I don't know if there's any kind of communication between the first and second window when the cars aren't in the same order as the orders, but I've never left with someone else's order, either.

I'm unlikely ever to find out because I don't use drive-thrus other than in the very rare circumstance when all I want is a soda.
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