Interesting experience at the drive-through

I haven't been, but I was surprised reading how it is laid out. To me the joy of a donut shop is going in and picking "one of those.....two of those". I guess you can't even see what their donut selection is, you just ask "do you have an old fashioneds? Any apple fritters?".
I don't buy donuts very often, like maybe once every couple of years and I prefer the Mom and Pop shops. In other cities I know some are big Dunkin Donuts fans, but I have never found their donuts or coffee to be anything special.
I think Dunkin’ took the donuts out of their name because their focus is more on coffee now. They also have breakfast sandwiches, etc. it’s really no different than going to the Dairy Queen drive thru. They list their options. People on their way to work or school want convenience. They like staying in their cars.
 
Weird. I don't like Drive Thru's and would likely not frequent a place that was drive thru only.

I've been to a few places that went drive-thru only to deal with COVID-19. A lot of fast food places did or had limited dining room hours. Heck - once I had an online order at McDonald's, got there and selected that I wanted to pick up inside. Then got to the door and found that it was drive-thru only as it was after 5 PM. I had my in-store pickup number and they were able to handle that at the drive-thru. But I had to wait much longer.

Some places are open 24 hours but where it's drive-thru only after maybe e 10-11 PM until the morning. Heck - I've walked through a drive-thru before although mostly won't allow that any more due to safety concerns.
 
I haven't been, but I was surprised reading how it is laid out. To me the joy of a donut shop is going in and picking "one of those.....two of those". I guess you can't even see what their donut selection is, you just ask "do you have an old fashioneds? Any apple fritters?".
I don't buy donuts very often, like maybe once every couple of years and I prefer the Mom and Pop shops. In other cities I know some are big Dunkin Donuts fans, but I have never found their donuts or coffee to be anything special.
We do mobile order with Dunkin every time and my husband just goes through the drive-thru to pick it up. The one my husband goes to also has an indoor portion but it's not brand new so no idea if they would build new ones around here with an indoor store. The drive-thru has a menu on it.
 
Weird. I don't like Drive Thru's and would likely not frequent a place that was drive thru only.
Have you ever heard of Scooter's Coffee? At least around our area these tiny buildings drive-thru only but we have enjoyed their coffee and consider it better than many (better than McDonald's, better than Dunkin', soooo much better than Starbucks,etc). They do have some breakfast items but those vary depending on location. There's one we used to go to by our house and their breakfast burrito was from a local small batch style company.

This is a pic from Google from the one near our house
1653934845263.png

Here's another picture from street view showing how the drive-thru is set up
1653934949009.png

I think there may be different types of Scooters like one branded as "Cafe" but the ones that are prevalent here are just the drive-thrus.
 

I think Dunkin’ took the donuts out of their name because their focus is more on coffee now. They also have breakfast sandwiches, etc. it’s really no different than going to the Dairy Queen drive thru. They list their options. People on their way to work or school want convenience. They like staying in their cars.
From the comments I have read, their menu board doesn't even list donuts. And I hear the breakfast sandwiches are pretty awful.
Dairy Queen here does have the full menu on the drive through menu board. The local Dairy Queen here has been owned by the same family for 40 years. Dairy Queen wanted them to spend like half a million dollars on a remodel and they refused. Said it made no economic sense. They are now Dairy HEAVEN. Same menu, they just changed the names of items on the menu.....(A Blizzard is now a Glacier).
 
First world problem, for sure. What would I do in this situation? Honestly, for my BFF, I’d just say, “this one’s on me, you can pay next time.” Now I don’t get fast food (especially donuts) very often, and I go to a drive-thru even less often. As others have said, you could’ve just paid your friend in cash or other method to make it easier. But I tend to agree, on principle, it shouldn’t matter if they handle one order or two smaller orders. It should be the server’s job to help the next customer regardless of if they’re in another car or the same car. IMO, the only person upset by this is probably the person in the car behind you, because It takes longer for them to process two transactions. :)
 
I've been able to do two orders previously, but that's because I ordered on the app ahead of time (and paid via the app) and then gave them the two order numbers to pick up.

We've never done two orders separately and expected to pay separately at the same window.

Except In-N-Out (a non-franchised fast food restaurant, primarily with locations in CA). They will actually let us do 3 separate orders in the same car :)


That is a good idea to order on the app thank you
 
Probably a 'drive-thru only' location is based on how much property was available, particularly in a congested shopping area. Less land, no parking or indoor dining means a lower cost to build that smaller location. Menu would also have to consistent of items easily made to order to keep the flow of cars moving.

I am a repeat customer at fast food places that have good/consistent quality food I like at a reasonable price. I really don't care how good their 'customer service' is when the food is consistently bad, overpriced or doesn't have menu items I like.
 
Yeah, the way orders are typically (if I can use a technical term) "pipelined", it would probably mess up future orders or maybe lost orders.
If a second order from the same vehicle would mess up or "lose" orders, that restaurant has some serious problems.

Car pulls up to the speaker:
Worker: How can I help you?
Driver: I have two orders.
Worker: Go ahead with order 1
Driver: Places order
Worker. That will be $xx.xx. Go ahead with order 2
Driver: Places order.
Worker: That will be $yy.yy, please pull forward.

Car pull to window.
Worker: That will be $xx.xx, (takes payment) please pull up to get your food.
Driver: We have the next order also (can provide what's ordered if need be)
Worker. Oh, ok. That will be $yy.yy. (takes payment) please pull up to get your food.

Car pulls to food window
Worker: Here's your order (order #1)
Driver: We also had (fill in the blank)
Worker: Oh, OK, here's that order (order #2).

Having two orders from the same car should be treated like two orders in two different cars.
 
If a second order from the same vehicle would mess up or "lose" orders, that restaurant has some serious problems.

Car pulls up to the speaker:
Worker: How can I help you?
Driver: I have two orders.
Worker: Go ahead with order 1
Driver: Places order
Worker. That will be $xx.xx. Go ahead with order 2
Driver: Places order.
Worker: That will be $yy.yy, please pull forward.

Car pull to window.
Worker: That will be $xx.xx, (takes payment) please pull up to get your food.
Driver: We have the next order also (can provide what's ordered if need be)
Worker. Oh, ok. That will be $yy.yy. (takes payment) please pull up to get your food.

Car pulls to food window
Worker: Here's your order (order #1)
Driver: We also had (fill in the blank)
Worker: Oh, OK, here's that order (order #2).

Having two orders from the same car should be treated like two orders in two different cars.
Businesses want to make sales. I assume if they don't want 2 orders from the same car, there is some operational issue complicating things.
 
We've done separate orders before. We just warn them ahead of time and it's never been a problem (but we've probably only done this 4 times in 10 years haha).
 
We always ask before we order my friend is angry enough not give her business if they don’t

I agree why can’t they just put us in as car one and two no different carpooling is not a new concept
 
But another friend and I have gone to Chick-fil-A we can do two separate orders no problem
Different level of customer service. That's really all it is. Some ppl. are lazy, some are jerks, some inflexible and others just unwilling to do something out of the ordinary, so it probably depends on the employee, manager and owners you get at any given place. As I get older, I'm much more willing to pay for good customer service.
 
I think Dunkin’ took the donuts out of their name because their focus is more on coffee now. They also have breakfast sandwiches, etc. it’s really no different than going to the Dairy Queen drive thru. They list their options. People on their way to work or school want convenience. They like staying in their cars.
This is correct. DD is local to me and I know people who work at their corporate offices. It’s a staple here.
 
It’s hard to understand why anyone would bother with two orders at DD rather than just giving the money to the driver. I mean it’s DD - how big is your order? If it’s over ten bucks, you shouldn’t be in the drive-thru in the first place, because you’re holding up the line with your excessive order.

I would think one order per car would be standard practice everywhere.
 
If it’s over ten bucks, you shouldn’t be in the drive-thru in the first place, because you’re holding up the line with your excessive order.
Given that Dunkin' like many companies push mobile orders they certainly don't mind. Not sure the price is relevant. Donuts went up in cost, not our fault.
 
It’s hard to understand why anyone would bother with two orders at DD rather than just giving the money to the driver. I mean it’s DD - how big is your order? If it’s over ten bucks, you shouldn’t be in the drive-thru in the first place, because you’re holding up the line with your excessive order.

I would think one order per car would be standard practice everywhere.

Not everyone carries catch so it is not about cost
 
If it’s over ten bucks, you shouldn’t be in the drive-thru in the first place, because you’re holding up the line with your excessive order.
When did this rule come out? Heck, many fast food "meals" will cross that $10 range on their own. Getting food for multiple people (on a single order) will EASILY go over that arbitrary value.
 













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