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The drive-thru technology that will change the game for your QSR

February 28, 2024

Izzy Esber

In This Article

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Beep beep! – That’s the sound of an angry customer at your drive-thru who has been waiting far too long for their order and needs to get to work.

Vroooom! – There goes another car speeding past your establishment after seeing that the drive-thru line is way too backed up.

Cha-ching! – Woo! Hear that? Your establishment’s register is going off from making nonstop sales at a successful pace because you’ve enabled DTiQ drive-thru system and solutions to improve your speed of service and operations.

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Did you know?

Quick bite — According to a LinkedIn Business Research Report, the global quick service restaurant market size was valued at USD 7 billion in 2024 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.78% during the forecast period, reaching USD 11,600 billion by 2027.

As restaurant drive-thrus rapidly rose in popularity throughout the pandemic at a rate of 30%, the lanes now account for over two-thirds of all fast-food purchases and up to 70% of QSRs’ revenue — that means 4.9 billion dollars in revenue is projected to come from drive-thrus in 2024.

When that much of your business comes from one area, there’s no room for getting orders wrong, slow service, theft, and many more unwanted contributing factors.

Both the pandemic and the desire for increasing productivity in today’s fast-paced world have dramatically impacted the way we do business — and customers are eating up opportunities where they can get their meals faster than this decade has ever seen before. ‍

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Key takeaways you will learn from this article:

How your business can profit by optimizing its drive-thru operations.
Imperative drive-thru technology that will contribute to a more successful establishment.
Using advanced analytics to improve QSR profit-generators such as customer experience and speed-of-service. ‍

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‍The importance of advanced drive-thru technology in the QSR industry

The hunger for increased productivity and the ability to multi-task has hit an all-time high — both for the customer AND the restaurant. Why not get many things done simultaneously and in less time? More transactions in less time equals greater total profits throughout the day. Better yet, more transactions in less time during your busiest hours and critical times equals even more total profits. And diners can get their food while not compromising speed, allowing them to continue with their day.

For a brief period, the drive-thru became the only way diners could get food from quick service restaurants. For many, the drive-thru habits of COVID remained, and the drive-thru continues to have huge momentum. Statistics show that 40% of customers choose the drive-thru every time they patronize a fast-food establishment.

As drive-thru lanes become busier, QSRs face increasing challenges, especially considering ongoing labor shortages in the food service industry. The National Restaurant Association reports a deficit of 500,000 jobs in the sector. Moreover, with labor costs comprising a significant portion, approximately 30%, and impending legislation like the California Minimum Wage Bill, the pressure mounts. But fear not, as the prominent trend of 2024 holds the solution.

Believe it or not, optimizing your restaurant’s drive-thru system is a form of loss prevention. By monitoring areas such as speed-of-service, waste, employee productivity, theft, and more, you can better understand where profits are tanking and how to improve them for future growth.

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‍Exploring DTiQ's drive-thru solutions

DTiQ generates actionable insights from video footage and data tracking and provides a forward-moving approach to improve your operation and gain back lost profits.

Previously known as Summit Innovations, DTiQ’s drive-thru solutions provide a variety of products for restaurants such as drive-thru systems, drive-thru timers, and drive-thru headsets. Technology such as HME headsets and timers have been around for years, but DTiQ has mastered the art of incorporating drive-thru analytics and insights into this technology for an all-around more impactful and actionable solution for drive-thru restaurants to efficiently improve their operations.

As QSRs are looking to modernize and take advantage of AI and CV, DTiQ's team of experts are making impactful efforts to replace this legacy technology with more innovative, digital-era matching tools. By incorporating both object recognition and re-ID, this establishes a comprehensive detection framework, guaranteeing a high level of precision in tracking customer journeys. This dual-method approach enhances the system's accuracy and fortifies its reliability, making it adept at capturing and linking data across various scenarios, including waiting bays, curbside service, and order-ahead lanes.

‍The top profit-increasing drive-thru systems and tools: ‍

Drive-thru timers: A device used in restaurants and fast-food establishments to monitor the time it takes for customers to complete their orders (from the moment they enter the drive-thru lane) until they receive their food and drive away. Evidence-based trials typically show a speed-of-service gain of 20-40 seconds and more, along with the resulting increase in output. Those improvements mean more cars, more revenue, and an unbeatable return on investment. ‍

Drive-thru headsets: Achieving success in the drive-thru hinges on three critical factors: speed, precision, and delivering a welcoming guest experience that establishes repeat business. With our advanced headset technology, clear communication between customers and staff ensures orders are accurately heard the first time, saving valuable seconds typically lost to order clarifications.

While not legal in every state, DTiQ also has the ability to review audio for training. ‍

Drive-Thru Order Accuracy: Our Drive-Thru Order Accuracy solution streamlines operations in busy drive-thru environments. Utilizing cutting-edge technology, it optimizes order fulfillment for both single-lane and multi-lane setups, facilitating precise order matching through visual displays. Eliminating the need for order confirmations enhances customer satisfaction, developing loyalty and return visits. ‍

Speed of service audits: Integrating our industry-leading drive-thru timer with your headset and NVR offers comprehensive real-time insights into restaurant operations. This holistic view allows for monitoring speed of service, customer interactions, and associated CCTV and POS transactions from a single platform. Remote audits provide detailed scrutiny of various operational aspects, including loss prevention, drive-thru efficiency, queue management, and adherence to opening and closing procedures, among others. If it's observable, it's measurable.

At the end of the day, DTiQ has your drive-thru covered. Read more about DTiQ’s drive-thru solutions. ‍

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Enhancing operational efficiency and improving customer experience

This is simple math. It’s not rocket science.

This is where we can trace back to the opening of this article: “Vroom” –– cars speeding up past your drive-thru and not thinking twice about entering because there are too many cars in line, and customers don’t want to wait nor have the time to sit through a busy lane.

‍Intouch Insight states that “we’ve seen timeliness improve since 2022. The total time from when our shoppers entered the drive-thru line until they exited averaged 5m 43s across all brands included in this year’s study — 29 seconds less than last year. This improvement was mostly due to decreased wait time, which dropped by an average of 25 seconds. Service time, the time it takes for shoppers to place their order until they exit the drive-thru with their food, only improved by 4 seconds. This presents an opportunity for brands who can find additional efficiencies to really stand out from the competition.”

For example, let’s say there are five cars in line at your QSR drive-thru. Now imagine that it gets reduced to one to two cars because your employees are beating the clock with drive-thru timers and easily communicating and multitasking with orders using their headsets. Not only does that bring in more hungry customers (because they can see there is little-to-no wait), but it also created loyal customers who appreciate speed of service and customer experience when entering your establishment’s drive-thru.

Now, here’s how an operation would lose returning customers –– according to a study by Intouch Insight, the average drive-thru accuracy score in 2023 was 86%. This means more than one in 10 customer orders were incorrect... A family’s favorite drive-thru chain may differ if their overall experience isn’t satisfactory, and you wouldn’t want to risk losing your customers due to the lack of a functional drive-thru system. ‍

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Future trends, innovations, and partnering with DTiQ

“With the ever-increasing demand for quick service and convenient food options, drive-thru efficiency and speed of service have emerged as crucial factors in maintaining customer satisfaction and profitability. Quick-service brands can do more with less by implementing new infrastructure and technology to improve throughput with quicker exchanges and reduced wait times.” - QSR magazine

You are thinking correctly. Investing in drive-thru systems for restaurants IS an investment — but a good one that will generate smart returns and revenue. ROI is what we preach at DTiQ, ensuring you that with the right technology and solutions for your operation, you can efficiently gain more profits than what you put in. Additionally, catch any cases of lost profit such as employee theft, fraud, productivity, waste, and incident-based loss. ‍

DTiQ's drive-thru success by the numbers – we are proud to have supported drive-thru establishments around the world, helping them generate more cars, more meals, and more profits:

$24,000 incremental revenue
23% increase in order accuracy
4% more cars through the drive-thru in peak hours

Your drive-thru competitive edge and customer experience pioneer is here and is waiting for support with advanced drive-thru systems and technology.

Drive-thru restaurants need to stay ahead of the game in this competitive space where customer expectations continue to climb.

DTiQ is the helping hand for providing drive-thru solutions that boost your profits and enhance your operation. Book a quick demo with us to learn more about how you can take your drive-thru restaurant to the next level.

The drive-thru technology that will change the game for your QSR

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