I don't do drive throughs

 

 

McDonald’s is often credited with the first drive-through restaurant, but they existed long before McDonald’s installed one in southern Arizona in 1975.

On January 24, 1975, McDonald’s opened its first drive-thru window in Sierra Vista, Arizona near an Arizona military base— to serve soldiers who weren’t permitted to get out of their cars while wearing fatigues.

This service gave Americans a fast, convenient way to procure a quick meal. The company’s goal was to provide service in 50 seconds or less. Drive-thru sales eventually accounted for more than half of McDonald’s system wide sales.

In May 1999, that historic location closed forever so that a new McDonald’s restaurant could open next to it.

The first McDonald’s drive-thru is being torn down and replaced by a parking lot to serve the new McDonald’s.

https://militaryhumor.net/the-first-mcdonalds-drive-thru/#:~:text=On%20January%2024%2C%201975%2C%20McDonald%E2%80%99s%20opened%20its%20first,fast%2C%20convenient%20way%20to%20procure%20a%20quick%20meal.

The first drive-through restaurant was created in 1947 by Sheldon "Red" Chaney, operator of Red's Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri. Located on the famous Route 66, the restaurant served customers until its closure in 1984. Several other companies lay claim to having invented the first restaurant of this kind, including the In 'N Out burger chain, which didn't open a drive-through until 1948, and Jack in the Box, founded in 1951. Fans of trivia may be interested to know that the first business establishment to have a drive through option was not a restaurant, but a bank, the City Center Bank in Syracuse, New York, which opened a drive-through in 1928 for the convenience of busy bank customers.

https://www.delightedcooking.com/when-was-the-first-drive-thru-restaurant-created.htm#:~:text=In%201947%2C%20the%20first%20drive-thru%20restaurant%20was%20created,operator%20of%20Red%27s%20Giant%20Hamburg%20in%20Springfield%2C%20Missouri.

Today, virtually every hamburger chain offers drive-through ordering – and so does Starbucks.

• Drive-thru, which is featured at nearly 95% of McDonald’s U.S. locations, allowed for nearly all of the chain’s domestic restaurants to remain open during the novel coronavirus pandemic, McDonald’s CFO Kevin Ozan said during a Tuesday earnings call with investors. During Q2 2020, drive-thru accounted for nearly 90% of sales as customers shifted to a more contactless experience. The market also saw an uptick in delivery and digital transactions, Ozan said.

Since I have always been fussy about my cars, I have rarely eaten a meal in my cars. If I am going to a fast-food joint today, I NEVER use the drive through. Part of that is driven by the fact that I like the personal contact, and the other part is that McDonald’s fills an estimated 25% of their drive through orders incorrectly.

That same desire for more personal contact also applies to grocery stores. Although I will free admit to using the self-checkout lanes at the store, I’ll always go through the lanes that have humans manning the till if the line isn’t too long.

 

You may have heard stories about people who paid the bill for the car behind them at the drive-though, but one of the funniest versions of that tale was sung by Tim McGraw in 2018.

 

Do You Want Fries With That - YouTube