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-   -   India really needs more drive-through restaurants! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/234594-india-really-needs-more-drive-through-restaurants-4.html)

Although I would prefer to sit and spread by legs especially during long drives I have to admit the number of times I have been happy to sit in my car during pouring rains and enjoy a coffee and a decent meal ... It does have its practical advantages even in India and as such I do feel we need more drive through restaurants especially on our highways. clap:

Don't like Drive-Throughs. Been to one only once as the restaurant wasn't open and we hadn't had our breakfasts. Ended up parking the car and coming out and collecting the food.

Not a fan of eating inside the car as it becomes tedious to clean up afterwards. I feel this Drive-Thru culture is more suitable for places with ample real estate or low population density.

I think chains should plan something like toll booth, multiple lanes and each lane dedicated to item as per preparation time, that will be super awesome, i know the real estate required will be a challenge.

Hey, I tried this Jugaad years ago. There used to be a Burger joint in Kalyani Nagar, Pune serving fantastic burgers but it was only a delivery place (no pick-up or dine-in options) and they wouldn't deliver it to my place being 4-5 Km away. So we drove to the nearby spot of the restaurant (around a Km) and ordered the Burgers through Swiggy and it was delivered within 15-20 minutes.

When I was in the US I was a huge fan of the drive-through especially the Chick-Fil-A ones and Portillos.

Here in Chennai, I had the same expectation and used the drive through of McD on OMR . There was nobody in the order taking screen. I was asked to come to the delivery window and this was where I gave my order, paid and just before the line exit was marked my order was delivered . A person came out and gave it.

In the meantime, the guy behind me honked couple of times for me to keep moving even though we were waiting in line. I could not understand how that is possible .

I feel it’s easier to have someone go in, order, pickup and walk out than use a drive through here.

On highway trips I prefer stopping every 2-3 hours primarily since it gives an opportunity to stretch your legs, complete text messages/phone calls etc.

Within the city, I see little utility. If I don’t have time to go to a restaurant to eat, I might as well save the time spent going there and have my food delivered to where I am.

Motorsports & Food are things I am deeply passionate about, combining them both I think a creative, exciting & unique business model can be born. Drive-thru & dine in have their pro's & cons, in the Indian context we need to spice things up a bit to cater to the diversity. This thread is timely & helpful to gain different perspectives. It was interesting to read the experiences shared by the members. Cheers!

Voted Yes
When I was in the US, I have used drive-throughs extensively on Saturday early mornings - like 5:30AM picking up my favorite Egg & Cheese on Croissant, Boston Kreme Donut and medium regular coffee from Dunkin Donuts, behind the wheels on my Acura 3.2TL and setting off for a long drive :)

I voted No (in Indian context), though I like drive thru's as a concept. I go to McD drive thru on Bangalore-Salem highway when I drive and I usually save about 30-40 minutes on the drive time.

But inherent to the success of a drive thru' is the nature of the food they serve. And I don't see many Indian foods are tailor made for this. Vada pav or kati roll are about the two items that I can think of. And of course coffee and tea.

WOW, this starbucks facility looks like an office building. I wish to see one around BKC as I think starbucks has that kind of money and can gather significant crowd in that area. There are 2/3 outlets in BKC and they should consolidate them. I say this because they do not operate on franchise mode (Tata does not sub-let it). I did try the kalamboli MCD few years back and I liked the experience and I use MCD on Mum-Pune expressway quite often.

I personally love this concept of Drive thru. Easy, time saving (sometimes).

Writing down an anecdote regarding this :-
Last year when the lockdown was just lifted in Pune, I went on an outing with my wife on our scooter Activa 125. While returning we decided to have some snacks at McD at Hinjwadi IT Park.

We went inside to check if it is opened or not, the staff told her that only DRIVE THRU is open. I said ' OK, lets go'.
When the staff saw my scooter, he said only cars are allowed there to get the food.
I thought that I am listening something wrong, I asked him again & he repeated "only cars are allowed".
I was stunned to hear that. I asked what about those customers who do not have car right now? He replied the same again "only cars are allowed". rl:

We went straight away to home then.

Not a big fan of drive in restaurants though have used it many times in the US due to lack of time or weather conditions.

For me car is to enjoy driving and restaurant is to enjoy eating :)
And with kid around, its a pain to find and clean the stuff fallen here, there and everywhere.

I never used to prefer drive-throughs, for the simple reason I hate eating inside the car since I like to keep my car Interiors neat and clean. In my 21 years of driving, while returning from Palakkad to Pune, October 2020, was the first time I had a "Drive Through" lunch break at McDonalds Kolhapur since dine in was restricted due to Covid. Due to the rush, I had to wait for close to an hour to place my order, another hour to leisurely finish the food. Since my wife knew about my "not so liking" towards eating inside the car, she made sure that we were extra careful while eating inside the car.

Going ahead, I have started liking drive throughs. My usual Pune-Mumbai-Pune stints have made me stop at McDonalds drive throughs at the expressway. Of course I do carry wet wipes and a big bedsheet to make sure I don't spill food all over.
One thing that I hate is the smell of the food that lingers inside the car for sometime. With my wife being allergic to car perfumes, not able to use them.

PS. Will switch back to normal dining once the situation normalises.

I voted yes. I live in NCR and whatever limited drive-throughs we have around, I happen to use them more often than the restaurants. Maybe because I like the comfort of ordering and consuming from the car and maybe because I do not need to be aware of what I wear just because I have to stop to eat.
As the condition of Indian highways is improving, we are now able to cover much larger distances in a single day than was possible 15 years back. And that brings the need for more drive-throughs to further save time and increase the predictability of travel times.

Lets take the case of drive-throughs in major highways from Delhi.

1. Delhi to Chandigarh
   • McDonalds and a KFC just after the Delhi border in 2 diff malls. Both are on the other side of the road.
   • BurgerKing on the other side just before Murthal...adjacent to Haldirams
   • McD in Karnal Savoy suites in Karnal and a KFC on the other side
   • Burgerking on this side after Karnal Oasis.
   • Burgeking in Haveli on the other side near/around Haveli.
   • The next drive-through is not before Zirakpur.
   Of course, if you are up for a roadside rajmah chawal or kadhi chawal then you can find a lot of old dilapidated vans converted into mobile kiosks with iffy hygiene all along the way.
2. Delhi to Agra via Yamuna expressway and beyond: Nothing
3. Delhi to Jaipur: One McDonald after Manesar. Nothing else to my
   knowledge...would love to know if more have sprung up.
4. Delhi to Rohtak- nothing
5. Delhi to Haridwar/Dehradun: A McD just around Midway
6. Delhi to Muradabad/Corbett: Nothing
7. Delhi - Agra..old road : there used to be a McD near Mathura.

There is definitely scope for many more.

When I go for work trips to USA, I used drive through lanes quite a lot, almost always Starbucks, because they open as early as 05:30 in the morning and I can grab a quick cup of Americano.

But sooner I found out that, drive-thru is not very efficient during normal working hours or at places where there is a quite a flow of traffic. ie If I used drive-thru lanes in the early morning, I will be the first, second or third in line and get out of the place quickly to my work. Very efficient. But during later mornings until late evening, whenever I went through busy drive-thru's it took me too long.

So I decided to

1. Drive-thru only during early morning hours
2. Park and pickup when there are more than 4 cars in drive-thru, if I can see from outside
3. If I cannot see the amount of cars except early morning, I will just park, go in and get my beverage and leave.

NOTE: Americans in drive-thru can be so slow in choosing and ordering something. It will be much efficient to just walk in, place my order, pick up and go. Man, They have drive-thru ATMs, liquor shops, banks etc. Crazy, if you ask me when compared to where I live, where we use bicycles for shorter commutes.

I don't have high hopes of using a drive-thru in India, any time soon.