The Drive-ThruProject

Cory DoneyDavid LaskowskiEmily Verhagen

Group 3

First, we made lists of reasons why people would choose the drive-thru

Some important things to consider in a drive-thru:

- Clear guidance and sinage throughout the drive-thru- Parking for people after they pick up their food- A clear menu that’s easy to follow- 100% correct orders- Speedy time-A drive-thru experience that is suitable for any type of vehicle

Why choose the drive-thru?Some reasons why people choose the drive-thru rather than sitting down inside would be: convenience, kids in the car, in a hurry, or traveling.

Photo Credit: http://www.whatscookninc.com/Drive%20Thru.JPG

Problem 1 Eliminating orders on a turn

splitting the restaurant so the drive-thru ran through the middle of the restaurant

having the drive through avoid wrapping around the building

having two sides of the building operate drive-thrus with parallel moving cars

We noticed almost every drive through puts the speaker box and the menu right on the corner and the curbs are colored black from people trying to get close to the box. We found this annoying and adressed this problem.

Problem 2 Getting more people throughDrive-thru’s can get backed up if the person in the front can’t decide what they want to eat. The whole purpose of the drive-thru is to get you back on the road as soon as possible. We decided to play around with the idea of hav-ing two order lanes in the drive-thru.

two lanes would help speed up the process and reduce wait time

traffic lights would help eliminate confusion of orders

the lanes would be staggered so the outside lane would yeild to the inside lane

Problem 3 Designing an easy to read MenuA big proobblem at drive-thrus today is the clarity of the menu. They are usually very busy and hard to follow. They decorate it with extra junk which makes it harder for the customer to find what they’re looking for.

an LCD screen would allow the person working at the drive-thru direct the custom-er to find what they are looking for

A touch screen would allow the customer to simplify the menu by eliminating certain categories so they can find what they’re looking for.

There would also be a screen with a running total of the customer’s order.

The touch screen would be adjustable for any type of vehicle.

A big curved menu would allow it to be easily viewed by everyone in the car.

The Adventure Visiting the Drive-Thru

At Good Times we learned:

-”People are stupid!”-They update their menu every 6 months-Customers can’t find what they’re looking for on the menu-Cars with only a driver will pull up to the passenger lane-The owner hasn’t opened the passenger lane in 3 years-They had the easiest, cleanest menu to read out of all the places we saw

http://www.goodtimesburgers.com/index.php?page=site/text&nav_id=5cdbc71c79a2ba9eaece30e95752c111

-The people at Wendy’s weren’t very friendly-Their drive-thru spit customers right on Colfax with no chance to turn around in case the customer forgot something or needed to use the restroom.-We did like how Wendy’s showed the customer their order as they were saying it.-The arrows leading into the drive-thru were facing the wrong direction

Sonic was our last stop.We noticed that the menu is very over ccrowded-It’s hard to find what you’re looking foe-We liked the convenience of pushing the button when you’re ready as well as paying with your card right there.-The lady working said they had a lot of noise from traffic interrupt-ing orders which made it hard to hear what the customer’s order was-Enjoyed parking spots that let you eat in your car

http://www.hollyeats.com/images/MidWest/SonicDriveIn-Menu.jpg

http://www.ecoliblog.com/wendys-714641.jpg

Finalizing Our IdeasSome things we tried to include in our final idea were:

-No ordering on a curve-Two lanes to reduce wait time-A parking lot after the drive through incase the customer forgot something or needs to use the restroom-Touch screen to eliminate menu items that get in the way-Adjustable for all types of vehicles-Roof covers over each order station to help reduce traffic noise-A cross walk so the drivers must yeild to pedestrians-Big LCD screen for preview of the menu-Running total of the customers order on display

Making the turns wider and placing the interactive areas on the side will reduce the amount of pissed off driv-ers trying to get close enough to the speaker to order.

The Final Design