drive thru

Shake Shack On Tapping AI And Other Tools To Optimize The Customer Experience

It's no secret that restaurants have been hurting since the pandemic caused a seismic, almost-overnight shift in their customer engagement strategies. The health crisis has forced the sector to hasten its use of...

Burger Intelligence: Shake Shack AI Takes Ordering, Customer Experience To The Next Level

The pandemic has upended how we order meals at restaurants, how we pay and, ultimately, how we eat. These transformational shifts are, in turn, affecting how quick-service restaurants (QSRs) engage customers as the...

Salad chain Sweetgreen is launching a new 'healthy' drive-thru as chains are forced to adapt to survive the pandemic

Sweetgreen concept. Sweetgreen Sweetgreen plans to open a drive-thru in Colorado in winter 2021. The chain is calling it a "drive-in" with options to stay and eat on-site. Fast food brands have been...

Starbucks is giving away Peppermint Mocha air fresheners in a drive-thru-only deal, as the coffee giant goes all in on drive-thrus

Starbucks Starbucks is giving away free Peppermint Mocha air fresheners exclusively to drive-thru customers. Baristas are handing out the free air fresheners starting on Thursday, December 10. The surprise deal...

The wait for burgers at Colorado's first In-N-Out locations topped out at over 12 hours

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider In-N-Out opened two Colorado locations on Friday. The wait at the Aurora location was over 12 hours, according to local police. In-N-Out is reportedly planning other locations in the...

Boston Market Deploys AI To Fight Fraud, Improve ROI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the food service sector by helping restaurants boost their sales as well as improve and automate systems that were once managed by staff. It can also serve as a powerful...

Digital Dining and Ghost Kitchens Gain Steam And Converts

It seems like not a day goes by that a major restaurant chain doesn’t launch a new digital-only concept store, ghost kitchen, enhanced drive-thru, curbside or delivery venture. Last week alone, Chipotle and Red Lobster both unveiled new store concepts that will cater to cautious consumers who crave the chains’ food, but not the crowds as the global pandemic continues to reshape how we work, shop and eat. In the case of the new...

McDonald's and M&M's are among fast food, candy brands spending $1.8 billion advertising to kids, increasingly via child influencers

McDonald's food items. Scott Olson/Getty Images Popular child influencers are generating millions of impressions for fast food and candy brands in YouTube videos targeted at kids, a report in the Pediatrics journal...

The pandemic is permanently changing fast food as Wendy's, Burger King, and Chipotle double down on high-tech drive-thrus

Taco Bell debuted a new drive-thru-centric design. Courtesy of Taco Bell Wendy's, Starbucks, and Chipotle are among the many fast-food chains building or renovating locations to beef up their drive-thru...

Deep Dive: How Offering Greater Digital Payment Choice Can Help QSRs Meet Consumers In Any Channel

Many of the numerous ordering and payment methods that today’s QSR customers enjoy have taken time to evolve and catch on. Calling local pizzerias or Chinese food restaurants to place takeout orders was once seen as...

Sprinkles Sweetens Contactless Options To Improve Customer Satisfaction

Few sectors have experienced such radical change in consumer purchasing habits during the pandemic than the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry. Restaurants turned to digital channels to keep customers and staff...

Federal judge to hear Republican challenge that could block 127,000 drive-thru ballots in Texas

AP Photo/LM Otero A Texas federal judge set an emergency hearing on Monday to hear a legal challenge regarding drive-thru voting in Harris County, which could potentially block roughly 127,000 votes, according to...

Burger King is taking a page out of McDonald's playbook, with Amazon-esque drive-thrus that predict what you want to order

Burger King's revamped drive-thru features digital menu boards. Restaurant Brands International 10,000 Burger Kings and Tim Hortons are revamping their drive-thrus to add digital menus that can advertise different...

Mastercard and SoundHound’s Voice Assistant Goes to White Castle

A voice assistant will take your order and process your payment at drive-thru restaurants thanks to a collaboration between Mastercard and voice AI developer SoundHound. Mastercard’s AI Powered Drive Through is...

Starbucks Product Managers Deal With The Covid-19 Virus

Covid-19 has changed things for the coffee giant Image Credit: Kara Babcock Let’s face it, everyone has been impacted by the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even those stores that you would have thought could have...

Taco Bell is taking a page from Chipotle's playbook with its new mobile ordering drive-thrus

Taco Bell is launching a new kind of restaurant in 2021: Taco Bell Go Mobile. Courtesy of Taco Bell Taco Bell is launching a new kind of restaurant focused on mobile ordering and pickup: Taco Bell Go Mobile.Go Mobile...

‘National Drive-Thru Day’ Symbolizes The COVID Summer

As made-up commercial holidays go, National Drive-Thru Day (July 24) is no sillier than, say, National Cherry Tart Day, which you may have missed back in June. But there’s a special relevance to celebrating the simple wonder of drive-throughs during the summer of COVID-19. Vis-à-vis reopenings, cars figure prominently into post-pandemic experiences, from food to fun, as people seek entertainment best enjoyed from inside a two-ton...

Today In Payments: eBay Nearing Sale Of Classified Ad Division; Lollapalooza Co-Founder: No Concerts Until 2022

In today’s top news, eBay is near a sale of its classified ad division to Adevinta, and Lollapalooza’s co-founder said live concerts won’t be back until 2022. Plus, Mastercard is expanding its crypto card partner program. eBay Nears Deal To Sell Classified Ad Division To Adevinta eBay is reportedly close to selling its classified ads unit to Adevinta ASA, the Norwegian online marketplace, for about $8 billion or more. The auction...

Product Managers Prepare For The Future Of Fast Food

Lessons are being learned that will outlast the Covid-19 pandemic Image Credit: Mike Mozart Restaurant product managers are facing one of the toughest times that they have ever had to deal with. The arrival of the...

Chipotle To Hire Up To 10K New Employees

To meet a surging demand stemming from digital sales, Chipotle Mexican Grill will hire up to 10,000 new employees over the next several months, the quick-service restaurant (QSR) announced Wednesday (July 15). The QSR chain’s digital business climbed 80 percent year over year, according to its first quarter earnings report in April. While consumers have been avoiding full-service restaurants during the pandemic — out of choice,...