Has the Concept of Fast Food Drive Thru Lost Its Purpose?

As Americans, we have become very impatient with the way most things are done. We can be rather demanding at times. When we want something, we have to get it right then immediately. This impatience leads me to believe that is why the concept of drive thru service was created.

Within the last 25 years, drive thru service has revolutionized the fast food industry. I am sure that it has enabled the fast food industry to both increase customer service and increase profits. People love the concept of drive thru service because it is friendly and convenient.

Although the concept of drive thru service in this country may be old, yet in country's like Japan it is still in an infancy stage. People in that country are having a difficult time grasping the concept of drive thru service. It just further proves that some of the services that are available to us in the United States we make take for granted. A sign of the times is starting to show that the concept of drive thru service may be losing its purpose especially in terms of the fast food industry. There use to be a time when you could pull up to a drive thru window, place your order, and be leaving out of the parking lot. All of this was done in no more than 7 minutes however this is no longer the case. It actually sometimes takes longer to receive an order placed at the drive thru than it does if you had just gone inside the establishment. More people have resorted back to the traditional way of ordering food by going inside of the fast food restaurants. Customers have started realizing that drive thru service is causing them to wait longer for their food orders. Unless management scientist can come up with a more effective method to improve drive thru service customers may start to have a negative perspective on the entire concept. Drive thru service for fast food establishments may not be that great but it is definitely a service that we cannot afford to lose.