How IoT-button can enhance Drive-Thru customer experience (Part 1)

Smartphones & broader tech has been changing nearly every facet of the quick-service (fast food) industry… and now it is IoT‘s turn to do it’s bit

From the success of smartphone ordering through to Geo-fence based coupons and even smart fryers; the fast food industry is hard at techifying every part of it’s store operations in a bid to enhance their overall customer experience

Those long snaking lines

Like clockwork; every mornings, afternoons & even evenings we notice the long snaking lines around a myriad of fast food restaurants…

…whether be it a bitter cold snowy (Chicago) morning, torrential downpour, screaming kids in the backseat, running late for a 8am meeting or just feeling just plain lazy out of the ordinary; many folk’s daily lifestyle depend on it…

…I am of course referring to Drive-Thru; which is said to contribute up to an average 65% of total daily sales of a typical fast food restaurant’s business

Challenge: Drive-Thrus are taking longer than ever

According to an annual study conducted by QSR Magazine; the average drive-thru time has jumped to ~222 secs (~3.7 mins); representing a ~20 sec slow down from a year ago

Sounds ironic doesn’t it? Aside from the convenience of picking up food & beverage from the comfort of one’s seat; Drive-Thrus were also meant to save time (at least over the more conventional getting in-&-out of the store)

To test this; I myself tried out a few drive-thrus (combination of restaurants, neighborhoods & peak/off-peak periods) scoring a little over 4 mins per trip

It’s in the process- how it is done today

Typically a visit to the Drive-Thru entails –

Entering Drive-Thru lane → Waiting… Inching Forward Slowly… Waiting… → Scanning menu board (for any last minute changes) → Placing order through the voice box → Waiting… Crawling to Delivery Window… Waiting… → Paying (or fumbling with change if cash) + Collecting food/drink → Driving away

Of course, the wait times depend on several variables such as time of the day (peak / off-peak), store location (inner city, suburbia), promotional offers, seasonal variations et al.

Key Challenges with the current process

A. Long wait times

Particularly at peak periods & closer to inner city zones or near business-dense locations

B. Missed Opportunity

Aside from pre-planned routine trips & the occasional sensory urge to eat a burger / have a frappe; how could fast food restaurants entice customers on-the-go?

Enter IoT…

Let’s explore a renewed ordering scenario…

Imagine consumers could order their meal/drink on-the-go with the help of an IoT button (a là Amazon Dash)… with a push of a button (rather than fumbling with a smartphone & an App) be able to place an order for their (pre-preferred) meal… all whilst driving and no distraction!

Visualizing how the IoT based process looks like

Benefits an IoT button-based solution could present

An IoT button could (in theory) bypass the in-lane wait period and most importantly improve customer experience… by potentially allowing users to pick up their order even before entering the traditional Drive-Thru line

A ‘physical’ IoT button should allow users to order whilst in motion (driving); with virtually no distraction as opposed to fumbling with a standalone App-only (distracting) based solution

An IoT button (backed by a companion App) could also increase the frequency of ‘casual ordering’… that could be triggered with assistance of beacon/geo-fencing & contextual Ads even out of the user’s regular routine

Up-Sell/X-Sell Opportunity: Restaurants could have an opportunity to push Up-sell/X-sell offers (think: Meal Upsize, Add-ons, Extra drink for a $1) once the user has pushed their ‘pre-selected’ order and en-route to pickup their order

Customer Insights & Order Recommendations: An IoT button-based solution; (which by default) would require a pre-saved user-profile & payment method(s)would allow the restaurant to learn more about their customers, their ordering behavior, daily routine, route patterns and target the right offers @ the right time to encourage repeat visit/purchase

An (physical) IoT button that is stuck on the car’s dashboard has the potential to bring the entire ordering process down to a simple click; all whilst keeping the user’s eyes on the road with a key aim of reaching to the nearest Fast Food Drive-Thru

The next segment will cover the IoT solution’s User Interface (UI) & Experience (UX), process overview (order confirmation, rejection & up-sell), key challenges and partnership opportunities in more detail

Stay tuned!