June 17, 2008

QSR Study - Consumer Drive-Thru Preferences

drivethru.jpgConsumers know what they want from a drive-thru experience. Is the industry listening? Nice research piece. Include downloadable case study pdf.

When it’s right, you can feel it. The greeting is immediate, pleasant, and clear. Menu choices are easy to choose from and the order is verified on screen, by voice, or both. The food is waiting for you at the window. Payment is exchanged, condiments are offered, and the food passed through the window, all with an inviting smile and pleasant attitude. It could be relief or contentment or outright joy but when the drive-thru experience is right, you feel it.

What we know is that feeling needs to be replicated hundreds of times a day. The 1,000 consumers participating in the 2007 Drive-Thru Consumer Survey reported visiting drive-thrus an average of 5.7 times over a 60-day period. More than one-third use a drive-thru more than six times over 60 days. Forty-five percent prefer the drive-thru over the dining room. Jack In The Box says that more than two-thirds of its orders are passed through its drive-thru windows.

What we know is that satisfaction is desired by the consumer. Fifteen percent of respondents said they have stopped going to a quick-serve because of one bad experience. Another 33 percent are pushed away by several bad experiences. With so many consumers using the drive-thru and demanding an uncompromising experience, building a better drive-thru has become an industry-wide obsession.

At the most basic level, the order has to be right. More consumers (80 percent) rated order accuracy as important to a good drive-thru experience than any other factor. Accuracy outranks speed any way the question is posed. Seventy-two percent said they would choose a restaurant with better quality food over a fast drive-thru, and 68 percent said they want the order to be accurate over fast. On the other end, only 21 percent said their biggest concern was speed and a low 8 percent said speed was more important than accuracy.

Even though the percentage of respondents satisfied with order accuracy (73 percent) is less than the number who feel it is important, its value is not lost on the industry. About half of all the chains surveyed said preparation was the top priority, with the other half placing equal weight on preparation and speed.

“Our goal is to always provide the highest- quality food and the fastest service around,” says KFC spokesperson Rick Maynard. “Each is equally important, and we don’t compromise on either.”

“Taste always comes first,” says Brian Dixon, vice president of marketing for Taco John’s. “We won’t compromise quality but we have had to look at added equipment and some ingredient changes in order to improve cooking or holding [time] to facilitate speed.”

After order accuracy, 74 percent of consumers said an easy-to-read menuboard was important to them. The percentage of those satisfied with the boards they saw is lagging somewhat (70 percent) but the industry is responding.

Of the 16 chains QSR surveyed, 14 report having made changes to their menuboards over the past year. Changes include using more visual representations, repositioning featured items, standardizing value meal positioning and numbering systemwide, expanding combo offerings, and redesigning from the ground up. With only 45 percent of respondents reporting that they know what they want before reaching the menuboard, the potential is obvious.

After seeing the chain ranked low several years in the QSR Consumer Drive-Thru Performance Study, Dairy Queen COO Chuck Chapman says his chain decided to target its menuboards in an effort to improve. With cooperative input from the home office, franchisees, and branding consultancy Tesser, Dairy Queen redesigned its boards away from a text-driven model to a picture and numbers model. Rollout began in May and some 25 percent of stores feature the new boards. Chapman says sales of à la carte items have decreased and sales of combos, specialty beverages, and DQ’s royal treat line—all more profitable items—have increased. More important, the new images on the boards have “let people know we’re in the food business,” Chapman says.

Bojangles’ will complete its new menuboard rollout to company stores this month and has the support of a majority of franchisees as well. Designed and manufactured by the Howard Menu Board Company and SynQ Solutions, Senior Vice President of Marketing Randy Poindexter says the new boards improve readability, improve brand perception and consistency across the system, use visuals to drive purchases, provide more merchandising opportunities, eliminate menu slats and digit carriers, and feature easy-to-change panels and improved hardware.

To prove how important the menuboard is, 44 percent of consumer respondents say they are influenced by specials on the menuboard.

A lot of the feeling that comes from a good drive-thru experience depends on what Noah Griggs, executive vice president of training for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, calls the “X Factor”—courtesy. Just under accuracy and an easy-to-read menuboard, 71 percent of respondents said customer service is important to them, while 63 percent said they were satisfied with their experience. But there is still room for improvement.

What's Important to Consumers Industry Response
80% Order Accuracy 100% Speed of Service
74% Easy-to-read Menuboard 88% Order Accuracy
71% Customer Service 81% Menuboard Readability
70% Speed of Service 81% Customer Service
69% Speaker Communication 81% Credit/Debit Card Acceptance
66% Short Car Lines 75% Length of the Wait
61% Order-Confirmation Board 69% Speaker Communication
61% Good Overall Appearance 69% Hours of Service
60% Menu Variety 56% Menu Variety
56% Convenient Hours 31% Wireless Payment Options
45% Good Drive-Thru Appearance 19% Wireless Ordering
34% Credit/Debit Card Acceptance

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Posted by staff at June 17, 2008 01:07 PM