News

Frisch's poll shines headlights on why Americans do drive-thru

August 24, 2016

Frisch’s today released results of a poll on drive-thru preferences, based on responses from 523 people across the nation. The fast casual chain, based in Cincinnati, found first of all that eight of every 10 of the group polled nationwide said they’ve made a drive-thru restaurant stop at one time or another in the past year. 

Leadership for the chain of family style midwestern restaurants said in a news release that about 30 percent of the brand’s business comes from the drive-thru window and that over the last five years, those sales have been increasing in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. 

Other findings from the study included that 70 percent of those polled said they had ordered a burger for breakfast.The poll found that far more men were likely to grab a burger to start their day than women, with 82 percent of male respondents saying they would "burger-fy" their first meal of the day, while only 58 percent of femalrespondentsts claimed the same. 

Here are some of the other poll results: 

• Drive-thru orderers don’t want to move or “deal” with people:42 percent said they drive-thru to avoid parking and walking, while 16 percent said they just didn’t want to deal with people. In fact, among the millennials polled, nearly twice as many (31 percent) said avoiding people was their reason for driving thru. 
• We mostly don’t trust restaurants to get our order right: Most people polled (53 percent) always check the bag before they drive off to make sure the attendant got the order right, while only 35 percent just “trusted” the restaurant employee and drove away.
• We’re split on eating now or waiting:39 percent of those polled eat their food right then and there, while about 35 percent wait to dig in when they get where they’re going. 
• Be nice to me, but don’t try to sell me: Most people polled are happy if the attendant is friendly (59 percent), though a healthy 14 percent just really don’t want to talk at all. Thirty-eight percent would prefer you not try to sell them anything else, and slightly fewer – 34 percent – appreciate being reminded that they might have forgotten something. 
• Could you please make the menu more legible? 59 percent of those polled said they can’t read the menu very well and that gets even harder when there’s pressure in the form of a line of hungry people behind them. 
• Don’t forget the salt or the napkins: Most of those polled (57 percent) said they end up asking for more condiments and almost as many (52 percent) needed more napkins. 
• It’s a lunch thing:Most of those polled (56 percent) drove thru for lunch, which was more than the total of respondents for any other meal of the day. One-fourth (25 percent) of those polled said they’re okay with eating in their cars, and another quarter (25 percent) of those polled said, it just gets too sloppy. 

The poll included 523 people across the country who answered questions from Aug. 2 to Aug. 5. The poll was conducted to promote the chain’s new portable breakfast burritos, which can be had with a free coffee at any Firsch’s drive thru next month, according to the news release.