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Information about Drive Through

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A drive-thru window at a fast food restaurant.


For the 2007 film, see .
A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a business that serves customers who pull up in their vehicles. Orders are taken, and goods or services are provided using a window or microphone, while the customers remain in their vehicles. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1940s but has since spread worldwide.

Examples of drive-through businesses

  • Alcohol at a drive-through liquor store
  • Banking services at a drive-through bank
  • Coffee at a drive-through coffee shop
  • Drugs at a drive-through pharmacy
  • Food or drink at a drive-through restaurant (typically fast food)
  • Marriage (primarily at special drive-through marriage chapels in Las Vegas in the United States)

Drive-through restaurants

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A typical Australian McDonald's drive thru with speaker.
A drive-through restaurant generally consists of:
  • One or more free-standing signs listing the menu items, called a menu board
  • A speaker and microphone, or a window, for customers to order from
  • A speaker and microphone or wireless headset system for employees to hear the customer's order (when a speaker is used)
  • One or more windows where employees interact with customers by taking the order and money and/or giving the customer the order
Drive-through designs are different from restaurant to restaurant; however, most drive-throughs can accommodate four to six passenger cars or trucks at once (called the queue).

In 1971, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas opened a second restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, featuring what Wendy's claims in its corporate history was "the first modern-day, drive-thru window". Not the very first, but Wendy's crafted the formula for drive-thru operations that made it a staple in the fast food industry, convenient for soccer moms and frantic road trippers.

Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the first city to have a McDonald's drive-thru. It first opened its window on January 24, 1975, to be able to feed quickly many of the soldiers coming from Fort Huachuca, a military base located adjacent to the city. The original McDonald's was closed down and demolished in May of 1999 and a new McDonald's replaced it.

The first drive-through restaurant (a McDonald's drive-thru) in Europe opened at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland in 1985.[1]

Drive-through banking

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A drive-through shared by a bank and a coffee shop.
In 1928, City Center Bank, which became UMB Financial Corporation, president R. Crosby Kemper opened what is considered the first drive-up window. In the page 8 of the December 15, 1940, issue of the Syracuse Herald Journal, Merchant's Bank of Syracuse, New York, ran an advertisement for the newly opened "Drive-In Teller Service" located on the side of their bank building on South Warren Street in downtown Syracuse. Westminster Bank, impressed by the concept, opened the UK's first drive-through bank in Liverpool in 1959, soon followed by Ulster Bank opening Ireland's first in 1961 at Finaghy.[2]

In recent years, there has been a demise of drive-through banking due to increased traffic congestion and the increased availability of automated teller machines and telephone and Internet banking.

Record

In 2005, McDonald's Wynnum-West, an Australian McDonald's restaurant, took the award for fastest drive-through service in the world. McDonald's Pty Ltd CEO Charlie Bell presented a plaque to the franchise at the annual McDonald's award ceremony in Washington, D.C. The record was 41 cars in just 15 minutes.

Mackay North McDonald's in Northern Queensland of Australia has almost matched this record at 40 cars in 15 minutes. However, it does boast a double ordering lane drive-thru, one of two in Australia.

Walking and cycling through the drive-through

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Some businesses are built only for drive-through service, like this espresso shop.
Pedestrians sometimes attempt to walk through the drive-through to order food after the seated section of a fast-food restaurant has closed. Many establishments refuse drive-through service to pedestrians on the basis of safety and insurance liability. Cyclists are usually refused service with the same justification given.[3]

In the UK and Australia, pedestrians are often served at drive-through windows, if the main body of the restaurant is closed. Some busy McDonald's restaurants in particular also provide separate walk-thru windows to be used on such occasions, e.g. overnight.

See also

References

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distilled beverage is a consumable liquid containing ethyl alcohol (ethanol) purified by distillation from a fermented substance such as fruit, vegetables, or grain. The word spirits
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bank is a commercial or state institution that provides financial services , including issuing money in various forms, receiving deposits of money, lending money and processing transactions and the creating of credit.
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Fast food is food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, such as TV dinners, typically the term refers to food which is cooked in bulk in advance, kept warm or reheated to order, and sold
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microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or mic (both IPA pronunciation: [maɪk]), is an acoustic to electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal.
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Queue areas are places in which people in line (first-come, first-served) wait for goods or services. Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or
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Wendy's

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Products Fast food, including hamburgers, french fries, and dairy desserts
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Wendy's

Public (NYSE:  WEN )
Founded 1969 in Columbus, OH
Headquarters Dublin, Ohio, USA

Key people Dave Thomas, Founder
Industry Fast Food
Products Fast food, including hamburgers, french fries, and dairy desserts
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