India really needs more drive-through restaurants!

I love drive-through restaurants because they are faster, safer (I'm avoiding restaurants in these Covid times), convenient and an additional revenue stream for food outlets.

GTO recently shared this with other BHPians.

I love drive-through restaurants because they are faster, safer (I'm avoiding restaurants in these Covid times), convenient and an additional revenue stream for food outlets. Plus, there is no going looking for parking; good luck finding a spot for your car if you just want to pick up a coffee from McDonalds on Linking Road.

I'm a regular visitor of McDonalds on the Bhiwandi Bypass, Panvel & the Expressway. Sadly though, we see drive-throughs only on the outskirts of cities & on highways. Reason? You guessed it = cost of real estate. You need lots of space for a good drive-through setup and it's simply too expensive in metropolitan cities. Even if you had the money, availability of space will be an issue.

Any other fans of drive-throughs on Team-BHP? Or do you prefer walking into a restaurant? I use drive-throughs on all my road-trips. If just beverages, we continue driving with our drinks in the cupholders. If anyone wants to eat, we quickly grab a bite in the parking lot or a safe scenic spot on the highway (I don't let anyone eat in my cars).

In USA - where everything is XL-sized (cars, houses, grocery stores etc.) - drive-throughs are commonplace. And just see how they are getting more intelligent:

A number of restaurants are moving quickly to improve their online order and app abilities, change their physical designs or add two or three drive-through lanes. Some are testing artificial intelligence systems to tailor suggestions for individuals who pull up to the menu board.

Others, like McDonald’s and Burger King, are adding multiple drive-through lanes, which have been a feature at some busy fast-food spots like Chick-fil-A but are becoming more commonplace. Burger King is running three-lane tests in the United States, Brazil and Spain. In the U.S. and Spain, the third lane is “express” for advance orders made through the app. In Brazil, the lane takes delivery drivers to a pickup area with food lockers or shelves.

Source: New York Times

Burger King is testing a Bluetooth technology that will be able to identify customers in Burger King’s loyalty program and show their previous orders. If a customer ordered a small Sprite and a Whopper with cheese, hold the pickles, the last three visits, Deep Flame will calculate that chances are high that the customer will want the same order again.

Source: New York Times

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.