Fast Food News: Which Chain Has Fastest Drive-Thru Service In 2019?

Restaurant trade publication QSR magazine said in a study on Wednesday that Dunkin' has the fastest drive-thru time in the United States, with customers taking 216 seconds on average between placing their order at the speaker to picking up their food. Wendy's and Burger King were the second and third fastest drive-thru experiences on the list.

Out of the 10 restaurants surveyed, Chick-fil-a had the slowest speed of service, at 322.98 seconds. McDonald's is the second slowest in the ranking.

The study was based on 1,500 visits to ten major fast food 10 chains from June 1 to Aug. 1.

Here is the full list from QSR with the average drive-thru timings:

1. Dunkin’: 216.75 seconds
2. Wendy’s: 230.38
3. Burger King: 235.48
4. Taco Bell: 240.38
5. Carl’s Jr.: 240.51
6. KFC: 243.73
7. Arby’s: 263.46
8. Hardee’s: 266.34
9. McDonald’s: 283.05
10. Chick-fil-A: 322.98

On average, the report concluded that drive-thrus were 20 seconds slower in 2019 than last year.

Multiple fast-food chains have been making various attempts to speed up the drive-thru process. Mcdonald's acquired voice technology company Apprente in September in order to implement automated drive-thrus for quicker customer experience.

Chick-fil-a sometimes has employees who stand outside and take orders on an iPad in addition to the drive-thru speaker. The fried chicken chain has become extremely popular, with an American Customer Service Index survey this year saying that it is the number one fast-food restaurant most preferred by Americans.

Some Dunkin' locations offer a special drive-thru lane that allows customers who ordered their food by mobile app to get to the pickup window quicker.

According to Nation's Restaurant News, McDonald's has the most locations in the United States with a drive-thru at 13,914. Burger King has an estimated 7,300 locations and Taco Bell operates 6,558 restaurants.