Fast Food order taking

[Dave Lehnert]

Just watched a show on TV about the fast food bizz.
Just when you think you seen it all. Wendy's has started to replace the order takers in the drive through with a call center. In the example given, If you place an order in Washington DC Wendy's, you are talking to someone in Lexington KY.

[John Sanford]

I'm skeptical that it will work out, although it's an interesting experiment.

Me, I always go inside, in part because drive-thrus are a real PITA on a motorcycle while wearing a helmet. I also very, very rarely use the "self-service" checkouts now popping up in grocery stores and the Borg. The only machines I want taking my money are vending machines and ATMs. Otherwise, it's people for me...

[Belinda Barfield]

I agree with John. It's difficult enough for most fast food places to get a face to face order correct, I can't imaging how it's going to work with a call center. I have noticed a nice trend recently though. I'm seeing more and more older people, who actually seem to give a rat's patootie, work fast food counters recently. It is so nice to interact with a pleasant person who seems care if they provide good customer service rather than the young woman with the three inch fake nails, that never smiles, is slower than a tortoise, and speaks in some form of corrupted English that I can't understand. "Uona makedata medjium?" took me a bit to figure out!

I always go inside also, and refuse to use self service check outs.

[Matt Meiser]

I don't know, it could work better if the order taker isn't in the store. They aren't trying to juggle taking orders, taking money, and gathering and handing out food. They'd just have one job. And they are communicating with the customer remotely anyway so what does it matter if they are 40' away on the other side of a brick wall or 400 miles away in a comfortable, quiet call center? I can see some problems, like if the shake machine is broken that has to be communicated to the call center instead of yelling to the drive thru worker. Of course the next step will be to put them in India.

I like those self checkouts unless I'm buying alcohol in which case sirens, bells and lights, start going off, the doors lock, and I'm pretty sure I saw the swat team go by one time. And they only give me an attitude if I remove the item from the bagging area. But the lines are shorter--maybe because a lot of people don't like them?

[Eric Franklin]

McDonald's has been doing this since around 2006 and what I can find online, it has been very successful. From what I can find, all of Hawaii is using that now.

http://consumerist.com/2008/06/mcdonalds-remote-ordering-system-is-gaining-popularity.html

The big benefit of doing this for the restaurant is that people taking the orders are trained in suggestive selling so they sell more and they have a higher level of customer service. They can also have one person during slow times take orders for multiple restaurants.

[Bryan Morgan]

Just watched a show on TV about the fast food bizz.
Just when you think you seen it all. Wendy's has started to replace the order takers in the drive through with a call center. In the example given, If you place an order in Washington DC Wendy's, you are talking to someone in Lexington KY. Some companies have been doing this for awhile now. Seems ok to me. Its fast food after all, not sure what anyone expects out of that... :)

[ray hampton]

drive-in is a big mistake for me -[hearing]I try to buy enough items so that I can avloid the self -service aisles

[John Fabre]

Just watched a show on TV about the fast food bizz.
Just when you think you seen it all. Wendy's has started to replace the order takers in the drive through with a call center. In the example given, If you place an order in Washington DC Wendy's, you are talking to someone in Lexington KY.
At least they can't spit in your food.

[Mark Bolton]

The only machines I want taking my money are vending machines and ATMs. Otherwise, it's people for me...

I agree 100%. We avoid home centers if at all possible but one day I had to pick something up at HD and got in an argument with the manager there as I was standing in the contractor line with maybe 1-2 people in front of me and she wanted to "teach me" how to check out myself using the automated deals. I told her unless HD is going to give me a 15% cash discount at the time of checkout for saving them a cashier's salary, insurance, vacation time, and so on, I am going to keep supporting a paid employee. She didnt like this at all and really took an attitude with me.

This has always been one of my beefs with corporate america today. They are constantly whining that they are so poor and abused by the US tax code and how hard it is to be in business here. Its BS. They virtually never pass on savings to customers in situations like this where they are saving millions nation wide having one "tender" tending 4-6 self checkout stations. Thats 5 salary's vaporized.

One of my others recently that ties in with the cable TV post is all these companies pressing you to go paperless billing now. I would personally love to go paperless just to save the waste but you know darn well it costs every company perhaps 1.00 with postage, envelope, paper, statement, all the goofy glossy ad's they stuff in, a return envelope. Throw me a bone, give me a $0.50/month credit for paperless. People would FLOCK to it, but nooooooo. Greedy corporations want you to go paperless because its easier for them AND they make more money but they are going to give you nothing in return.

Maybe I need a nap,
Mark

[Myk Rian]

I agree 100%. We avoid home centers if at all possible but one day I had to pick something up at HD and got in an argument with the manager there as I was standing in the contractor line with maybe 1-2 people in front of me and she wanted to "teach me" how to check out myself using the automated deals. I told her unless HD is going to give me a 15% cash discount at the time of checkout for saving them a cashier's salary, insurance, vacation time, and so on, I am going to keep supporting a paid employee. She didnt like this at all and really took an attitude with me.
I hope you reported the incident to corporate.

[Mark Bolton]

I hope you reported the incident to corporate.

Your right I should have *slap slap*, but I didn't. I just went about my way as it added to my vow to avoid these places as much as I can.

Mark

[Harry Hagan]

This reminds me of the time the lady at the Wendy’s drive-thru didn’t speak English, Spanish, French or any language that made sense to me or my friend the linguist who’s fluent in many languages.

We drove away wondering if we were being filmed for one of those low-class sophomoric cable TV shows because Wendy’s does use that location to film TV commercials on occasion.

[Jim Koepke]

Here I thought this was going to get into things like the waitress yelling, "Adam and Eve over, wiggly pigs and dry rye the raft."

jtk

[Burt Alcantara]

As a kid, I worked summers in my fathers restaurant where they called out orders. My favorite was "boola boola" which for some reason was spagetti and meatballs. All the help, including my father were Filipinos.
At today's fast food "restaurants" the kids working there can never get my wife's name correct -- Lois. They always call her Lewis.

[Mike Cutler]

I always go inside.
There is still a part of me that thinks the epitome of laziness is not even getting out of the car to eat or order food.
With gas a >$3.00/gal, it's incredibly wasteful to sit there idling in line for food.
Shut them down,and let's learn to talk to each other again.

Off the soapbox.

[Frank Drew]

Wendy's has started to replace the order takers in the drive through with a call center.


Oh, great, now even more people making phone calls while driving :confused:.

[Orion Henderson]

That would be the next step then-calling (or e-mailing, texting, etc) in the order before you get to Wendy's. This would work particularly well with McD's as you would be hard pressed to find someone who goes there ever and doesn't know exactly what they want without looking at the menu.

[Matt Meiser]

That would be the next step then-calling (or e-mailing, texting, etc) in the order before you get to Wendy's. This would work particularly well with McD's as you would be hard pressed to find someone who goes there ever and doesn't know exactly what they want without looking at the menu.

Chipotle already has an app for that.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/chipotle-ordering/id327228455?mt=8

[Eric Pitts]

McDonald's has been doing this since around 2006 and what I can find online, it has been very successful. From what I can find, all of Hawaii is using that now.

http://consumerist.com/2008/06/mcdonalds-remote-ordering-system-is-gaining-popularity.html

The big benefit of doing this for the restaurant is that people taking the orders are trained in suggestive selling so they sell more and they have a higher level of customer service. They can also have one person during slow times take orders for multiple restaurants.

It's definitely not all of Hawaii. It would be nice if it was. Sometimes I just give up and take what they give me.

[Ruhi Arslan]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Mark Bolton http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=1597073#post1597073)
I agree 100%. We avoid home centers if at all possible but one day I had to pick something up at HD and got in an argument with the manager there as I was standing in the contractor line with maybe 1-2 people in front of me and she wanted to "teach me" how to check out myself using the automated deals. I told her unless HD is going to give me a 15% cash discount at the time of checkout for saving them a cashier's salary, insurance, vacation time, and so on, I am going to keep supporting a paid employee. She didnt like this at all and really took an attitude with me.I hope you reported the incident to corporate.

So she can get promoted faster for pushing the corporate agenda...


... I have noticed a nice trend recently though. I'm seeing more and more older people, who actually seem to give a rat's patootie, work fast food counters recently.
I'm sure those nice old folks who give a rat's patootie [sic] working at "fast food" junk dispensers to bring some "civility" to the society not just because they cannot pay their prescriptions and their utility bills anymore with their pensions. :rolleyes:



... rather than the young woman with the three inch fake nails, that never smiles, is slower than a tortoise, and speaks in some form of corrupted English that I can't understand. "Uona makedata medjium?" took me a bit to figure out!This one deserves a big WOW! :eek:

[Belinda Barfield]

I'm sure those nice old folks who give a rat's patootie [sic] working at "fast food" junk dispensers to bring some "civility" to the society not just because they cannot pay their prescriptions and their utility bills anymore with their pensions. :rolleyes:

Just for the record, Ruhi, please note that I said "older" not old. While I have noticed some nice "old folks", some of whom are certainly working to pay their utility bills, the older people I have interacted with are in their late 20s to early 30s. The majority of fast food employees in my area are in their late teens.

My comment regarding "corrupted English" also needs clarification. The young lady I referred to speaks English as her first language, she just chooses not to enunciate and runs all of her words together in a common form of butchering the language that is prevalent throughout the south. Many people have difficulty understanding was passes for English in the south. I know because I speak fluent "Southern".

[Gary Max]

Shoot---- I havn't ate fast food in years--- that stuff will kill you.
How's that for different???????????
Oh----- one of the side effects of getting older---- you want to get even older

[Bill Edwards(2)]

176602 176601

[Zach England]

You probably have a higher chance of getting someone fluent in English.

Note: this is an observation and should in no way be construed as anything more.

I don't think I have eaten fast food in 15 years, and I am not that old.

[Zach England]

I don't know, it could work better if the order taker isn't in the store. They aren't trying to juggle taking orders, taking money, and gathering and handing out food. They'd just have one job. And they are communicating with the customer remotely anyway so what does it matter if they are 40' away on the other side of a brick wall or 400 miles away in a comfortable, quiet call center? I can see some problems, like if the shake machine is broken that has to be communicated to the call center instead of yelling to the drive thru worker. Of course the next step will be to put them in India.

I like those self checkouts unless I'm buying alcohol in which case sirens, bells and lights, start going off, the doors lock, and I'm pretty sure I saw the swat team go by one time. And they only give me an attitude if I remove the item from the bagging area. But the lines are shorter--maybe because a lot of people don't like them?


This happened to me while buying super glue from a grocery store. Apparently you have to be over a certain age to purchase it.

[Brian Elfert]

Oh, great, now even more people making phone calls while driving :confused:.

The customer isn't making a phone call. The speaker at the drive thru goes to a call center instead of a worker inside the store. The call center employee enters your order into a computer and the order pops up at the store.

[Orion Henderson]

Shoot---- I havn't ate fast food in years--- that stuff will kill you.
How's that for different???????????
Oh----- one of the side effects of getting older---- you want to get even older

As my Dad so eloquently said: "Which is better; the first cookie in the box or the last cookie in the box?"