Dinner

“People don't want to get out of their cars to get dinner.” (Harry Balzer)

 

Drive-­thru restaurants have been a staple of the national landscape for over half a century. The format was pioneered in the United States in the 1930s by Jordan Martin, but has since spread to other countries. What exactly is a drive-thru? It is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars.

 Orders are placed using a microphone and picked up in person at the window. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive-up window teller was the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri in 1930. The drive-up teller allowed only deposits at that time. Here are interesting facts all about our obsession with drive-thrus:

·        "Wendy" is Melinda Lou, founder Dave Thomas’s daughter. Her nickname was Wenda when she was younger because she couldn’t pronounce her own name.

·        70% Of Fast Food Business Is Sold Through Drive-­Thrus. This is just reasonable. Are you going to risk walking into a fast food restaurant just to risk someone judging you for wearing pajamas at noon? No, you’re just going to pull up and order because legs and human interaction are both extremely overrated.

·        A large order of fries at Five Guys is a staggering 1464 calories and 71 grams of fat.

·        Arby's stands for R.B., the initials of Raffel Brothers, but many customers eating at an Arby's think the initials stand for roast beef.

·        If you ask for a specific dipping sauce, you want that specific dipping sauce, right? Then get in your car and head on over to Chick­-Fil-­A where they have the most accurate service. They get 92% of orders right. Burger King has the least accurate service by successfully filling only 82% of your orders correctly.

 

·        We love our burgers and fries, but we love their convenience factor of drive-thrus even more. That’s why people have adapted the drive-thru model to all sorts of interesting businesses, and we’re not just talking about wedding chapels. Here’s a short rundown of some of the more unusual ones: Strip club, funeral parlor, prayer booth, Christmas nativity, contemporary art gallery, liquor and gun store, and a law firm.

·        Jack in the Box and Wendy's were the first large chains to integrate drive-through windows into their indoor walk-up restaurants.

·        McDonald’s was actually a late arriver in the drive-­thru revolution. They opened their first drive thru in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Other fast food titans like Jack in the Box, In-­n-­Out, and Maid­Rite had already been all-­in on drive-thru for decades.

·        Most In-N-Out locations featured two tall palm trees that cross each other to form an X. This is a reference to It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, one of founder Harry Snyder’s favorite movies.

·        Popeye’s Chicken is named after Popeye Doyle, Gene Hackman's character in The French Connection, not Popeye the Sailor Man.

·        The Big Mac got its name in 1967 from Esther Glickstein, a 21-year-old secretary in the McDonald’s advertising department. Until she offered her suggestion, the leading choice was "Blue Ribbon Burger".

·        The burger wrappers and drink cups at In-N-Out feature hidden Bible passages, like John 3:16. Former president (and born-again Christian) Rich Snyder had the verses printed on In-N-Out packaging and the practice continued after he died in a plane crash in 1993.

·        If you happen to drive through a fast food eatery in the early afternoon, you’ll have the easiest time getting your food. Think of the window between lunch and dinner as your sweet spot.

 

·        The first drive-thru was Red’s Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri in 1947. It was conveniently located on Route 66. Red’s Giant Hamburg bucked the trend of car­hops (a drive-in) and pointed the way toward fast food’s future.

·        The largest Dairy Queen in the world is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is 7500sqft and seats 240 customers.

·        Wendy’s averaging about 130 seconds in serving time, Wendy’s can give you a frosty and a delicious, burger in just a little over two minutes. This is the fastest of any major drive-­thru chain. Burger King (averaging just a minute longer) has the slowest service on average.

·        When Steak 'n Shake was first starting out, founder Gus Belt would wait for the busiest time and then wheel in a barrel of steaks, grinding them into burgers right in front of the customers. This is where the slogan "In Sight It Must Be Right" comes from.

·        White Castle co-founder Walter Anderson is credited with inventing the modern hamburger bun.

 “Fast food is popular because it's convenient, it's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu” (Eric Schlosser)[i]

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[i] Sources used:

·        “7 Things You Didn't Know About the Drive­-Thru” by Zack Hillman

·        “Brush up on Ronald McDonald and Saudi Arabian Dairy Queens “By Kristin Hunt  

·        “Drive-through” from Wikipedia