Making Money Without the (Dreaded) Drivethrough...

Jeremy Deutsch must really love Burger King. Writing in today's Kamloops This Week,  Jeremy writes:

The king is back.

After years without the Whopper in Kamloops, Burger King will once again rule over the kingdom of the Tournament Capital....

To be fair, the start of the article might be an attempt to be catchy and attract our attention. It got mine.

The article is not just an announcement of some new restaurants. It actually focuses on the inability of the restaurant owners to construct a drive through in the commercial centre of North Kamloops (in more official language, "the North Shore Town Centre"). The North Shore neighbourhood plan bans drive throughs in this area. I sat on the neighbourhod planning committee and support this policy because I believe it helps create a more pedestrian friendly, more environmentally friendly area.

Now, I sometimes will make use of a drive through. Rarely, but it does happen from time to time. They are certainly very convenient. I wonder, however, if I didn't have a drive through option when I was looking for one, would I actually go somewhere else or would I park my car and walk inside?

This seems to be the major concerns of those who promote or build drivethroughs - that if this convenience is not offered, people would go somewhere else. But, personally, if I am going to a certain restaurant or coffee shop, it's because I have made quite a specific choice. I really want a Tim Hortons' sandwich or I really want a Starbucks grande latte. Sometimes, I really want a A&W double mozza burger.

I wonder what kind of research there is to illustrate people would go somewhere else if a drive through option was not available. Me, I almost always park and walk in.

A column in the same issue of the paper as this article extols the benefits the joys of "walk-throughs" or "walk-tos"

Do fast food franchisees and coffee shops really need to worry?

Comments

[Bevin]

Um... *puts bag on head* if they're after customers like me then yes they need to worry. I'll totally go somewhere else if there's no drive-thru. It's embarassing and not green, but it's the truth!

[Drew]

You mention your personal preference to preselect a restaurant; that certainly represents some of the population. I think you're missing the perspective of a larger part of the population though: people on their way to or from work, for example. They want something quick. The "something" isn't particularly important, the "quick" is. They'll choose a restaurant with a drive-through over one without most of the time. Another example would be a family heading from one kid's soccer game in Brock to their other kid's game in Dallas. They want something quick for the kids to eat on the way. Again, the "something" isn't as important as the "quick".

One of the problems with designating certain areas of town as drive-through-free, from a business perspective, is that, although the sit-down portion of the restaurant is competing locally, the drive-through portion is competing with other parts of town. People looking for a quick meal on their way somewhere can simply choose to wait a few minutes until they reach Valleyview, Sahali or even other parts of the North Shore and get their meal at a drive-through there.

Research on this issue would be interesting. Comparing the small number of cars parked in the lot of a Macdonalds restaurant at 6:30 am to the large number of cars in the drive-through is telling though.

To answer your question, I think fast food shops need only worry when the playing field isn't even. In the case of the nixed North Shore Burger King location the playing field is not even - Wendy's, Macdonalds and A&W all have drive-throughs and are a short drive away. They offer two dining options for customers and they'll attract more customers because of it.

[Mike]

I both hate and love drive-throughs. We have to keep our head out of the sand. There is a large demographic of people that use them (myself included). For example, if you've got a car full of small kids and you are needing to grab something, sometimes the drive-through wins out (even over healthier choices) because of convenience.

[Arjun Singh]

Thanks for your comments Bevin, Drew, and Mike!

The main common thread is convenience. Although, I also see a thread here of feeling that drive throughs are not great.

I also see Drew's point that it is a bit unfair to new restaurants when the old ones already offer a drive through option.

It's interesting for me to think about how to meet the desires for convenience without offering a drive through.

If a restaurant did offer really awesome food, and also allowed people to call ahead to order. Maybe one could just drive in, park, and your order could be brought out to you. Remember the old A&W carhops?

[Hugh]

Just what we need at a time of climate change, a long line of idling cars spewing hydrocarbons. Drive throughs should and eventually will be illegal.