Drive-through performance is usually reported as one number: total time in the lane. It is the easiest number to collect and the least useful one to act on, because it tells you that the lane was slow without telling you where.
Short on time
Split service time
Separate ordering, payment and handover before deciding where delay occurs.
Inspect slow cases
An average alone does not explain why a particular car stalled.
Match time to event
Arrival and handover times locate the stage that needs review.
Fix the right stage
Changing payment will not fix a delay in order preparation.
A lane is four stages, not one
Arrival to order. Order to payment. Payment to handover. Handover to departure. Each has a different cause when it slows, a different owner, and a different fix. A total that combines them averages away the only information worth having.
In most lanes the third stage carries nearly all of the variance. Improving the first stage, which is where scripting and training effort usually goes, moves the total very little.
Why the average misleads
The mean lane time is calm. The distribution is not.
A lane that averages acceptably can still be failing, because a small number of very slow cars produce most of the customer frustration and most of the abandonment. Look at the slowest tenth of cars in a daypart, not at the mean. That tenth usually has one cause, and it is usually an item that is not held ready.
Measure the stage you intend to change
Once the stages are separated, the conversation with a branch changes shape. Instead of asking why the lane is slow, which invites defensiveness, you can ask why payment-to-handover is thirty seconds longer on Thursday evenings. That question has an answer, and the answer is usually about preparation rather than effort.
Three things to check before buying anything
ROI calculator
Four inputs, and the workings stay on screen.
Open the calculator
