The Slowest Fast Food Drive Thru Is A Fan Favorite

Taco Bell has been crowned the king of quickest drive-thru times, but another beloved restaurant chain has been dubbed the slowest. A report by Intouch Insights confirmed that Chick-fil-A took longer than average, scoring highest in terms of wait and service time. Now, before everyone brings out the pitchforks and torches, let's take a deeper dive into why this is the case.

Chick-fil-A is a Southern fast-food chain prized for its exceptional service and crispy chicken sandwich. While fried chicken is the main attraction, Chick-fil-A's side items include one of the better fast food mac-n-cheeses and a creative twist on a banana pudding milkshake. It's no wonder the fast food chain beats its competitors in reputation. The American Customer Satisfaction Index found that the restaurant had a customer satisfaction rate of 83% in 2024, which is the highest score of any other fast food restaurant in the same year. But when it comes to the drive-thru speed, Chick-fil-A falls in last place because of its popularity.

Data without context can be misleading. Yes, Chick-fil-A did rank the slowest in terms of customers waiting in line to receive their food (almost 8 minutes). No, it's not because their employees are sitting around doing nothing. The same Intouch Insight report found that Chick-fil-A had the highest average number of cars in its drive-thru line (3.44). But what's interesting here is that it had the shortest total wait times for each vehicle at an average of 2.3 minutes. Carl's Jr. and Hardee's actually had the longest times for each vehicle at an average of over 10 minutes.

More people means more time. According to the Chick-fil-A website, some locations can have up to 100 cars within an hour if it's a busy time of day. Fast food rushes are hectic, but Chick-fil-A also has one of the highest order accuracy rates at 93% correctness in 2024. It's possible that one reason your order is taking so long is that someone is doing a better job of checking its accuracy. The brand appeals to suburban families who may have children, meaning there may be some extra little passengers in the vehicles in front of you. Regardless of the reason, drive-thru traffic happens. Sometimes we just have to extend some empathy to the people around us by learning how to order in a rush and saying "thank you" to the service workers trying their best — it's their pleasure!