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How to Transition to a Drive-Thru Only Menu

Posted by Rachelle Wilber on April 27, 2020 at 5:24am

With the closing of dining rooms and the trend of social distancing, you will want to find a way to drive business to your eating establishment. One of the smartest ways to continue your business’s growth is to transition to a drive-thru only menu. Here are the four top ways you can keep your business going with a drive-thru only menu.

Limited Menu

The first thing you will want to do is limit your menu to your most popular items. Also include items that will be easier to create. For instance, you can create sandwiches using Kaiser buns. This limited menu will allow you to get more customers through your drive-thru and get more revenue per hour.

Contactless Billing

You can allow people to make their orders quicker by having them use your restaurant’s app. This will allow you and your team to fulfill the order quickly and have it ready for them to pick up. Creating an app is easy and will allow your customers to have fast access to your menu.

More Car-Friendly Lot

You will want to make sure that your establishment can handle the drive-true traffic. Therefore you will want to make sure that your drive-thru can handle vehicles up to 10 or 11 feet in height. You will also want to make sure that you can accommodate at least eight cars onto your property without causing any congestion. You may want to consider a trial run with you and your employee’s vehicles before you launch your drive-thru.

Market Your Drive-Thru Menu

Now it’s time to let your existing and future customers know about your drive-thru only menu. Therefore you will want to contact your existing customers via your e-mail list. Also, you can reach future customers by advertising your drive-thru menu. You can also create flyers that invite people to download your restaurant’s order app. Finally, you can offer a special discount or deal for the first month of your drive-thru’s operation.

A drive-thru can go a long way in boosting your business in a time of social distancing and government-mandated closures of in-restaurant dining. You should create a limited driver-thru only menu, create an ordering app, design an effective drive-thru space for your customers’ vehicles, and market your drive-thru menu. By following these simple steps, you will be well on your way to creating a growing drive-thru business.

How to Improve High Traffic Drive-Thru Efficacy

Posted by Rachelle Wilber on April 15, 2020 at 4:32am

These days, more and more people are using the drive-thru instead of eating indoors to minimize contact with other people. This means the drive-thru will be more crowded than ever. It's important to keep things moving. Here are 4 tips on how to improve high traffic drive-thru efficiency.

Utilize Your Fastest Employees

Monitor different employees on the drive-thru. Use metrics to determine who the fastest employees are, and schedule these employees on the drive-thru as often as possible. You should also pick managers who emphasize speed and have the best numbers. These managers have proven that they know how to get things done quickly. Continue training everyone on ways to be faster.

Easy to Read Menus Early in the Drive-Thru

One of the biggest hold ups in the drive-thru is waiting for customers to decide what they want. Make it easy for them by showing them the menu well in advance. Provide multiple menus up to the point where someone orders. This way, they can look at the menu while waiting and be ready to order when it's their turn. No more waiting for the customer to decide what to order once they pull up to the window.

Prep in Advance

You should prepare yourself as well as possible. Anticipate the most common orders and have these items ready to go. For example, you can probably get a second pot of coffee ready during the morning rush since you know many people will be ordering coffee. You don't need to wait for the first pot to be used up. You can also utilize a used stainless steel three-door commercial freezer to keep frozen things on ice till your customers order them.

Minimize Errors

When something goes wrong with a person's order in the drive-thru, it can hold up the line. You should do everything you can to minimize mistakes. First, you should have a clear speaker system so that everyone can hear each other properly. You should also provide a screen for the person in the drive-thru to see the order. After taking an order, have the employee verify the order to the customer. These simple steps can save a lot of time in fixing errors.

People who go through the drive-thru want to get there order and get on with their day as quickly as possible. They are probably on their way to work or school. It's your job to help get them there on time (and with delicious coffee and breakfast). These tips can help you accomplish this.

A million different places

Posted by Rachael Renk Simas on September 9, 2008 at 5:44am

This is the perfect website for me. I haven't been doing the coffee thing for as long as some people, but I already know now that it's something I love, and I would be perfectly happy to do it for as long as I'm working. Eventually, one day, I'd like to own my own coffee shop(s) - as well as some other businesses, business is kind of a passion of mine, although it might seem slightly boring. In highschool marketing was my favorite class and my orginal major going into college was Entrepreneurial Management. I would've liked to stick with that major but it required too many math credits and honestly, I am not a math person...at all. Anyways, like I was saying, I dig the coffee.Right now I'm particularly interested in competitions and latte art. At the coffee shop I work at we don't focus a lot on latte art, namely because the stores I work at are drive thru only so almost all of our drinks go out with lids. Sometimes I'll try and make a heart or a flower when I'm making a latte, but no one's really shown me how it's done or the different things you can do. In addition to this, I think it would be radical to compete, but I have no idea how to get started or what level you need to be at or anything.Well, those are all my thoughts for now!

Limited Menu

Contactless Billing

More Car-Friendly Lot

Market Your Drive-Thru Menu

Utilize Your Fastest Employees

Easy to Read Menus Early in the Drive-Thru

Prep in Advance

Minimize Errors

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.