Dive Brief:

• Chick-fil-A has the highest customer satisfaction scores at the drive-thru, while Taco Bell leads in speed of service and total time, per Intouch Insight’s 2024 drive-thru study.
• Intouch Insight combined its statistics for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s and added Raising Cane’s, bringing the total number of brands visited by secret shoppers for the study to 11.
• Speed across brands improved, with total average time dropping from six minutes and 13 seconds to five and a half minutes. However, lower traffic may account for some of this improvement. On average, brands saw fewer cars in the drive-thru, with only Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s and Chick-fil-A servicing more cars in the drive-thru this year, as measured by the study.

Dive Insight:

Chick-fil-A received 99% customer satisfaction scores across 165 secret shopper visits to the brand, while Raising Cane’s and McDonald’s came in second and third with 98% and 97% satisfaction, respectively. McDonald’s score was a nine-point improvement over 2023, a bright spot for the chain as it has struggled with driving comparable sales in 2024.

Burger King also saw a dramatic gain in satisfaction, with guest scores rising from 85% to 93% year over year. The burger giant’s value marketing and remodel program may be improving customer sentiment, though its sales are still not growing. 

Drive-thru guest satisfaction

Average speed of service improved by 17 seconds year over year, dropping to 245 seconds from 262 seconds, and is now faster than 2019 by about 10.5 seconds. Total time is still marginally slower than 2019. 

While Taco Bell and KFC led in speed of service, Chick-fil-A was the clear winner when adjusting for cars in line. The restaurant took just 139 seconds per car in the drive-thru lane, much faster than most other brands, and 12 seconds faster than runner-up Raising Cane’s.

The improvement in service speed could be attributable to a number of factors. Many consumers have pulled back on restaurant spending or traded down, which could reduce operational pressure on restaurants. At the same time, the restaurant labor market has seen significant drops in turnover, and employment is close to pre-COVID-19 levels. Those factors may mean stores, in aggregate, are better staffed with more experienced workers than last year or 2022.

Raising Cane’s debut with Intouch Insight reflects the emergence of a new generation of chicken brands that have seen significant growth, like Zaxby’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken, while KFC has largely stagnated. 

The chicken chain generally scored well, tying with Chick-fil-A for first place in food quality, and came second for customer ratings of staff friendliness by brand. Eighty-eight percent of secret shoppers said the chain’s employees are agreeable.

In about 4% of store visits across brands, Intouch’s shoppers interacted with drive-thru artificial intelligence. The report does not break down which brands used the tech, and Intouch cautioned the small sample size means it’s difficult to draw conclusions about the technology’s efficacy.