--- title: Fast Food Drive-Thru Windows Are Getting Slower description: QSR Magazine's annual study shows wait times are on the rise for fast food chain drive-thru windows. Accuracy, however, is up. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2015-10-07T18:56:19.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T07:04:19.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Chick-fil-A - Del Taco - drive-thru - Dunkin' Donuts - Fast Food - Food & Drink - Mcdonald's - pubdesk - Starbucks word_count: 247 canonical: https://money.com/fast-food-drive-thru-windows-slower/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Drive Thru KFC](https://img.money.com/2015/10/gettyimages-102853907.jpg) If you drove up to the drive-thru lane in the past year, you may have noticed that it took you a little longer to get "thru." *QSR Magazine*'s [annual fast food study](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/reports/drive-thru-performance-study-2015) showed a "significant slowdown" in comparison with last year's data. Recording data from 1,532 drive-thru windows at 29 chains -- including Chick-Fil-A, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, Del Taco and others -- the report showed that it now takes [222 seconds on average](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/drive-thru-performance-study-2015-daypart-speed-service) to get food, about 19 seconds slower than last year. That's a "significant slow-down," according to the magazine. ***Read More: McDonald's Wants to Win You Back*** Part of the reason is due to a renewed focus on getting orders right. "Once they leave and it’s not right, it’s a lot more difficult to recover those guests than someone who’s dining in," Italian fast food chain Fazoli's CEO Carl Howard told *QSR*. According to the data, [accuracy on burger orders](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/drive-thru-performance-study-2015-menu-category-accuracy) has risen 4.1%, though total accuracy for all kinds of food in the study (including burgers, ethnic and sandwiches) only went up 2% for a total of 88.6% accuracy overall. If you're looking to hit the drive-thru at the most opportune time, it's oddly not when you think it would be—at the least-popular times like late-night or late afternoon. Instead, it's actually breakfast ([183 seconds on average](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/drive-thru-performance-study-2015-daypart-speed-service)), which is also it the busiest time of day. However, the chains are ready and staff accordingly. ***Read Next: [5 Things to Know About McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast](https://money.com/mcdonalds-all-day-breakfast/)*** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/fast-food-drive-thru-windows-slower/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Restaurants", "item": "https://money.com/restaurants/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Fast Food Drive-Thru Windows Are Getting Slower" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/fast-food-drive-thru-windows-slower/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/fast-food-drive-thru-windows-slower/", "name": "Fast Food Drive-Thru Windows Are Getting Slower", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-10-07T18:56:19.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/fast-food-drive-thru-windows-slower/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/fast-food-drive-thru-windows-slower/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T07:04:19.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Fast Food Drive-Thru Windows Are Getting Slower", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/10/gettyimages-102853907.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 1921, "caption": "Drive Thru KFC" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ethan Wolff-Mann", "url": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ewolffmann" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-10-07T18:56:19.000Z", "description": "QSR Magazine's annual study shows wait times are on the rise for fast food chain drive-thru windows. 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