This is so overdue. Standing in a single file line for 15 minutes is a problem – so is using a speakerphone to get orders. Back in the good old days, Wendy would send staff (often the manager) through the line to write your order onto a paper form so that all the counter person had to do was copy the form and collect the money.
I’m not comfortable handing my debit card to a fast food worker or buying a prepaid card and becoming an unsecured creditor. Let me order and pay using my iPhone and just toss the food at me and I’m happy. Once upon a time, human contact mattered, but that was discarded to keep the drivethru moving. If I want civility, I’ll go to chick-fil-a
Where’s your beef? 😉
What is the point? Until your order is placed in the POS device, the cook staff won’t know what to prepare. The order screens display orders in sequence. I suppose that is showing you that they care?
Presumably there will be multiple screens, and they also plan to roll out ordering and payment using the smart phone. By only having one register (in most, but not all Wendy’s) that creates a huge bottleneck. At least in NC, Wendy’s was the innovator that had the drive through window as an integral part of the building design.
Yesterday I was at the Jersey Shore’s only Smashburger. The order prep guy was listening to hear what customers ordered, then telling the kitchen the orders before they were even entered into the system. The kitchen started working on the orders right away. Smashburger gives me free stuff for completing online surveys. I’ve always given the workers the highest possible ratings because they truly deserve it.
As a teenager, I worked at a drive in (similar to Sonic, but with a Confederate motif) first as a curb hop, then later in the kitchen. We could hear the orders being placed and get a head start. Every once in a while, someone would push the button again after a couple minutes and say something like “can you make my cheeseburger into a fish sandwich”? Ummm, I’m good, but not that good.