McDonald's Restaurants & Menu 2014: Fast Food Giant Tries 60-Second Drive-Thru Guarantee
The fast-food giant McDonald's is trying to speed up lunch drive-thru orders, testing a 60-second guarantee. Pilot programs in South Florida's participating restaurants will give customers timers when they order their food.
According to the Miami Herald, the guarantee states that guests will receive a coupon for a complimentary lunch during their next visit if their meal isn't ready before the timer reaches one minute. The promotional drive-thru promises will run weekdays through Aug. 29.
McDonald's attempts to speed up its food delivery to try and keep up with competitors and keep customers interested. "Fast casual" restaurant chains like Chipotle are growing in the industry, taking more and more customers away from McDonald's.
The industry giant has struggled in a "particularly challenging market ... where the company said it has lost relevance with consumers," the Wall Street Journal said.
To revive interest among consumers, McDonald's created a "learning lab on the West Coast to better understand what consumers want." One of the discoveries about the golden arches made was that customers who ate fast-food during lunch needed their meal very quickly.
It was through this information that the company tried the one-minute-limit drive-thru, even though the speed of McDonald's drive-thrus hasn't been a point of weakness in the past.
"In recent years, studies have shown that drive-thrus have gotten slower, at least partly because menus have expanded and it's more difficult for restaurants to deliver speedy service," according to Time. "The industry-wide average time at the drive-thru recently rose from 173 seconds to 181 seconds, researchers at QSR Magazine reported last fall."
As the fast food industry continues to fight for breakfast customers, McDonald's tries to keep hold of people eating out during lunchtime. It remains the most popular meal eaten in fast food restaurants, bringing in 34 percent of consumers.
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