The Popular Fast Food Chain That Holds The Title For Quickest Drive-Thru
There's nothing more irritating than sitting in a fast food drive-thru line. That's why it's so encouraging to hear that quick-service restaurants are, on the whole, getting faster at delivering your food to you. But one chain has risen to the top of the heap of American fast food restaurants rankings, solely based on their speedy service: Taco Bell.
Back in 2022, a poll declared that KFC was the fast food chain with the quickest drive-thru times. Looks like things have changed. According to a QSR report, Taco Bell drive-thru customers waited just 278.84 seconds on average from the time that they placed their order at the speaker until they received their food at the window. For the mathematically disinclined, that's about 4½ minutes.
To put that in perspective, Chick-fil-A, the slowest fast food drive-thru, averaged wait times of 436.09 seconds — more than seven minutes. Intouch Insight conducted a study and determined that, in the United States, the average fast food drive-thru time was 5 minutes and 43 seconds, or 343 seconds. That means that Taco Bell is, in layman's terms, absolutely killing it.
Taco Bell is committing to speed by harnessing the power of technology
Through the years, Taco Bell has made some smart decisions in the name of improving business. It jettisoned the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo restaurants because customers didn't like them, and it streamlined its menu to make ordering and preparing food as efficient as possible. This is a business that's come a long way from having a live mariachi band outside. Now, Taco Bell is taking a giant step into the future with a high-tech concept restaurant that makes the process of getting takeout faster than ever before.
The "Defy" concept store in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, has no fewer than four lanes and boasts drive-thru times under two minutes from start to finish. With dedicated lanes for mobile orders, delivery drivers, and conventional drive-thru business, Taco Bell is clearly attempting to improve service for customers across the spectrum. Taco Bell president Mike Grams told CNN that "Taco Bell Defy is the future." It seems like, in years to come, we'll be getting through the drive-thru quicker and quicker.