Drive-thrus and fast food are an American institution. Truly, if there is one thing that we may contribute to this world as a convenience and general positive, it is not leaving the car to get your food. While the slow drive-thru is the bane of many folks who simply don’t park up and go inside, a fast drive-thru is one of the great road trip time savers. And a Kansas McDonald’s just served 356 cars in one hour, breaking the informal record of speedy drive-thrus.
For the uninitiated, the drive-thru was invented in 1948 by Harry Snyder and Esther Snyder of In-N-Out fame. The innovation that made this possible was Harry Snyder’s invention of a two-way speaker system of Snyder’s own design, which catapulted In-N-Out to the red meat powerhouse it is today. The drive-in predated the drive-thru, but the drive-thru is what caught on and replaced drive-ins by the 1970s.
It wasn’t until 1975 that McDonald’s got its first drive-thru for an extremely specific purpose: to serve Fort Huachuca service members who were not allowed to get out of their cars while on duty and in uniform. Now, McDonald’s is something of a drive-thru institution with virtually all McDonald’s featuring a drive-thru of some kind. It took a while, but the outer limits of the drive-thru is now being explored by a certain El Dorado, Kansas McDonald’s.
According to an interview from KWCH, El Dorado McDonald’s owner Bob Lane set out to serve the most cars in one hour. “We looked it up and the best we could find was 300 (customers served in an hour in the drive-thru).” From there ensued a battle a plan and prepare to serve as many customers as possible in one hour.
With the help of the local community and the restaurant staff, they managed to clear 356 cars in one hour. It’s not completely clear if the orders were pre-prepared and folks were getting their expected orders in order or if the McDonald’s prepared a variety of food for all situations, but there was a level of planning and precision required to clear a car every 10 seconds.
Either way, bravo El Dorado McDonald’s. This is true heroism.
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