Brad Tuttle assembled 10 facts about drive-thrus. Some of the more interesting ones include:

• Drive-thrus are getting slower. This year the average wait time is a record 203 seconds. Centives has previously noted that for every extra second that customers have to wait at a drive-thru, restaurants have to lower their prices by four cents.
• Drive-thrus are quickest in the morning when people have fairly simple orders for coffee, and during the mid-afternoon ‘snack’ hours.
• They’re slowest during lunch when people are likely to order for multiple people and menus usually expand to include more items.
• Wendy’s has the quickest drive-thru. Chick-fil-A has the most accurate drive-thru with 87% of drive-thru orders being correct.
• The first drive-thru opened in 1947. McDonald’s opened its first drive-thru several decades later in 1975.
• 40% of Starbucks locations now have drive-thrus and this proportion is set to grow.
• Chipotle refuses to open drive-thrus. Analysts argue that it would destroy the experience of being able to see the fresh ingredients being put together.

Read other facts, find out which restaurant has the least accurate drive-thru, and find out why Panera studied drive-thrus for ten years before deciding to introduce one over here.

Source: Time