During the past year most fast food restaurants went to a drive through mode and closed their dining rooms. In my area (Atlanta) some of them are now opening their dining rooms. Yesterday I went to Dunkin Doughnuts around 11AM and there were still a dozen cars in the drive through lane. I parked, went in and bought my 2 doughnuts and went back out to my car. I noticed only 3 customers eating inside. And I noticed that the line had only moved up by one car.
Even before Covid I always preferred to go inside to pick up my take out order. I just find it easier than passing money and food through a car window and faster. Given a choice which do you prefer?
Most people are too damn lazy to get our of their car. I almost always prefer to walk in. Actually, I try to stay away from fast food as much as possible anyway.
Since I sold my business I haven’t been to a Dunkin Donuts as I don’t eat donuts myself, but I always walked in to pick up a couple of dozen donuts a few times a month to bring in to my shop for my employees
I make coffee at home every morning and I have a cuppa at 7 am every morning then I go for a walk occasionally, I’ll pick up a fresh bagel at a local bakery.
I usually go inside too, especially if the drive through has more than a couple cars in it.
Haven't been to Chick fil a since they went drive through only. I used to stop in periodically, it was usually like you describe. The drive through line around the corner but you could walk in and get food nearly immediately.
The closest we ever get to fast food is the occassional iced coffee at dunkins and we go in as siotting in a car makes ppl dumb and that slows things doewn lol
Honestly, every time I go inside because the drive thru line is long, it seems the drive through would have been faster.
In other news, I hate Dunkin Donuts, and prefer mom n pop shops or Krispy Kreme. If you bring me DD, I won't even allow them in my private office, put em in the lunch room. Most reps know this now.
Road warrior here. Prefer drive up windows so I can zip in and out off the hi-way. Like Shadow mentioned I will often go inside when I see 20 cars lined up and the inside virtually empty (this was often even the case before COVID).
All restaurants I have encountered have opened up their dining rooms EXCEPT Chik Fil Et and a few local pizza places that never wanted to provide dine-in to begin with, but felt obligated to throw a few tables and chairs in their customer area.
I’ve dined in a restaurant only twice since the pandemic began. It’s not that I’m afraid now, it’s just I’ve altered my routines and happy with the way they are. Still get take out a lot and take it home. God, it’s so much cheaper than dining in and I can pick my own alcohol drinks that many restaurants don’t offer.
I think many fast food restaurants are rethinking their strategy and are going to permanently reduce or eliminate inside space. Many made just as much or more money during the pandemic, and the current labor shortage and upward pressure on the minimum wage is really making life difficult for them. I think McDonalds said before the pandemic that they were generating about 75% of their revenue from drive through business which was more profitable.
As a traveling sales person, I often use Fast Food dining rooms as my mobile office. Cheap coffee and good wifi. I hate to see that disappear.
My ChickFilA is now offering limited dine-in, but haven’t partaken it that yet. The drive-through line is usually very long, so I usually park, order online and they bring it to my vehicle. I’ll probably start dining in resturants in a couple of weeks if the COVID rates don’t start spiking again.
95% of the time I go inside to pick up my food – part of it is some drive-thrus not having good intercoms so I don’t want my order to get messed-up – there are also the lazy-as-people that can’t make up their mind what they want and just sit there deciding and holding-up-the-line; and then there are those that are ordering for like 5 different people – if you are not gonna be efficient in ordering then go inside rather than holding up the drive-thru.
As others have said – most people are just f’ing lazy and prefer to make a line of 5 cars or more rather than just step inside – at places like Chick-Fil-A the lines can be 2-dozen+ cars and people clog up the parking lot trying to get in the drive-thru rather than get their ass off of the car-seat.
Some drive-thrus have more than one way to enter and it becomes an issue when there are multiple cars coming from two different directions trying to get into the drive-thru and arguments can break-out w.r.t. who got there first – I recall one night at a Taco-Bell two cars were blocking the drive-thru entrance and neither would move b/c they were arguing over who was in line first since they came in from different directions (they couldn't get past each other and neither would back up and let the other one in).
“… Haven't been to Chick fil a since they went drive through only … The drive through line around the corner ...”
As others have mentioned, one can order online then walk up to the door and they bring it out to you – you can also walk up to the door and there is usually someone outside whom you can place your order with and they bring it out to you when it's ready (which is what I’ve been doing).
I prefer to walk in as well. It’s faster most of the time. I can make sure I get ketchup, napkins and such. Lots of times I’d like to use the rest room to wash my hands. It’s still usually faster than drive through.
Talking about fast-food - given supply-constraints; heard recently that ketchup-packets for many restaurants have gone up from about 3 or 4 cent per package to 70-cents per package
I generally try to avoid eating from any place that has a drive thru window. But in those rare instances where my back's against a wall, I'll do whichever I think will be faster. Many fast food restaurants prioritize drive thru orders over dine-in for turnaround times, so you need to factor that in when making the decision. But if I see a line of cars snaking around the building, I definitely park and walk in.
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I make coffee at home every morning and I have a cuppa at 7 am every morning then I go for a walk occasionally, I’ll pick up a fresh bagel at a local bakery.
Haven't been to Chick fil a since they went drive through only. I used to stop in periodically, it was usually like you describe. The drive through line around the corner but you could walk in and get food nearly immediately.
I do however see a market niche for a drive through strip club.
In other news, I hate Dunkin Donuts, and prefer mom n pop shops or Krispy Kreme. If you bring me DD, I won't even allow them in my private office, put em in the lunch room. Most reps know this now.
All restaurants I have encountered have opened up their dining rooms EXCEPT Chik Fil Et and a few local pizza places that never wanted to provide dine-in to begin with, but felt obligated to throw a few tables and chairs in their customer area.
I’ve dined in a restaurant only twice since the pandemic began. It’s not that I’m afraid now, it’s just I’ve altered my routines and happy with the way they are. Still get take out a lot and take it home. God, it’s so much cheaper than dining in and I can pick my own alcohol drinks that many restaurants don’t offer.
As a traveling sales person, I often use Fast Food dining rooms as my mobile office. Cheap coffee and good wifi. I hate to see that disappear.
As others have said – most people are just f’ing lazy and prefer to make a line of 5 cars or more rather than just step inside – at places like Chick-Fil-A the lines can be 2-dozen+ cars and people clog up the parking lot trying to get in the drive-thru rather than get their ass off of the car-seat.
Some drive-thrus have more than one way to enter and it becomes an issue when there are multiple cars coming from two different directions trying to get into the drive-thru and arguments can break-out w.r.t. who got there first – I recall one night at a Taco-Bell two cars were blocking the drive-thru entrance and neither would move b/c they were arguing over who was in line first since they came in from different directions (they couldn't get past each other and neither would back up and let the other one in).
As others have mentioned, one can order online then walk up to the door and they bring it out to you – you can also walk up to the door and there is usually someone outside whom you can place your order with and they bring it out to you when it's ready (which is what I’ve been doing).