Chick-Fil-A's Drive-Thru Might Be Getting Faster Thanks To This Change

Chick-fil-A's new CEO started in the job this week, and he admitted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the drive-thrus at his restaurants could be faster. (Don't worry, Chick-fil-A fans; this change at the top won't shake things up too dramatically at the fried chicken chain. New CEO Andrew Cathy takes over for his father, who took over several years ago for his father, per The Chicken Wire.) Chick-fil-A's drive-thru has ranked as the absolute slowest among top fast food chains over the past few years, according to QSR — not that anyone's complaining, really. A separate QSR report noted that Chick-fil-A was No. 1 in drive-thru customer service, even though it was the slowest. Besides, it's not that Chick-fil-A is slow, as in inefficient and incompetent. It's just so much busier than other fast food restaurants.

Customers told QSR they are cool with waiting as many as 13 minutes in a drive-thru line for their food. Still, Chick-fil-A believes it can do better ... and it looks like the chain is already trying out some ideas for speedier drive-thru service. Some Chick-fil-A fans on Reddit discovered a new wrinkle in the chain's drive-thru system. The question is, will it actually succeed in moving people through more quickly?

A Chick-fil-A customer discovered something new after placing their mobile order. As they showed in a Reddit post, they had the option of picking up their food at a "drive-thru express" lane, available to mobile customers only. Some Redditors thought this was a good idea because it might actually speed things up at the fast food world's slowest drive-thru. "I hope this becomes an option for me," Reddit user TamarsFace commented. "I order mobile and hate waiting in the drive-thru."

Chick-fil-A's otherwise promising solution to its slow drive-thru problem does appear to have one glitch: human error (or stubbornness). "I tried this the other day and it was awesome! Except for one hiccup," Proper-Cheetah-9958 said. "A woman hopped in that line thinking it was just short but had no idea what a mobile order is, so we all had to wait for her to place her order." Another Redditor saw this as a fatal flaw, commenting, "This is why this won't actually catch on. Too many idiots out there that are incapable of reading, or who think that the rules don't apply to them."

Other Redditors were wise to another reason Chick-fil-A would open a dedicated drive-thru lane for people who place mobile orders. Fast food chains can collect information on customers and even track their locations through their apps, per Skift Table. Even so, Redditor mikenyle is sold on the mobile concept. "Love mobile orders; whoever invented that is a genius," they commented. "Makes me spend more money, too, because it's so convenient."