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No. 10: Chick-fil-A. The Atlanta-based chicken chain retained its No. 10 ranking from last year with a total time of 488.8 seconds in 2020, a slight increase compared to a total time of 487 seconds in 2019.
The brand, which did not trim its menu for the pandemic, added family meal bundles and a take-home Chicken Parmesan Meal Kit at select restaurants this year.
The trade off? Chick-fil-A ranked No. 1 for accuracy, customer service and taste.
No. 9: Arby’s. The Atlanta-based sandwich chain, a division of Inspire Brands, logged a total time of 394.2 seconds in 2020. That was about 84 seconds longer than last year when it ranked No. 7 with a Total time of 310.3 seconds in 2019.
SeeLevel CEO Lisa van Kesteren noted that Arby’s ranked No. 2 in the Taste and Customer Service categories and No. 3 on Accuracy. Oftentimes, when a chain ranks high on these categories, something else is sacrificed, like speed of service.
“You have to give up on something in order to get the other things right,” she said.
No. 8: Wendy’s. The Ohio-based burger chain logged a total time of 358.7 seconds in 2020. That was 59.2 seconds longer than last year, when it ranked No. 6 with a total time of 299.5 seconds in 2019.
What’s different this year? Wendy’s added a new category to its menu when it introduced breakfast in early March. Competitors such as McDonald’s and Taco Bell, which improved speed of service, trimmed breakfast offerings when the pandemic hit.
No. 7: Dunkin’: The Canton, Mass.-based chain tumbled in the rankings this year with a total time of 351.7 seconds in 2020. The chain made consumers wait 91 more seconds compared to 2019. Last year’s total time of 260.7 seconds earned the brand the No. 1 ranking for speed of service last year.
Since 2017, total time at Dunkin’ has steadily climbed upwards, according to the survey.
No. 6: McDonald’s. The Chicago-based burger giant is one of three chains in the top 10 that were faster this year. McDonald’s total time decreased nearly 29 seconds to 349.3 seconds in 2020. Last year, the brand’s total time was 378.2 seconds.
What made the difference? Van Kesteren said brands like McDonald’s and Taco Bell have beefed up their off-premise ordering technologies with kiosks and digital menu boards. Those innovations streamline ordering channels, ultimately contributing to fewer cars stacking up in the drive-thru lane, she said.
McDonald's also took several items off the menu this year, including temporarily halting All Day Breakfast when the pandemic hit. All-Day Breakfast has yet to return to menus.
“We removed All Day Breakfast from the menu to simplify operations in our kitchens, which we saw provided better speed of service and order accuracy," McDonald’s Corp. told NRN in a statement. "Any final decision [on bringing back All Day Breakfast] will be made in partnership with our franchisees, based on consumer demand, and designed to drive the business while minimizing operational disruptions.”
No. 5: Burger King. The Miami-based burger chain, a division of Restaurant Brands International, was 45.9 seconds slower this year than last. The brand’s total time of 344.3 seconds in 2020 compared to 298.4 seconds in 2019. Despite the double-digit slowdown, the chain only dropped one notch in the rankings, moving down from last year’s No. 4 slot.
Burger King’s total time has increased every year since 2017.
No. 4: Carl’s Jr. The Franklin, Tenn.-based sister chain to Hardee’s was 65 seconds slower this year than last, causing the brand to drop two slots in the rankings for 2020. Its total time was 341.6 seconds in 2020, compared to 276.6 seconds in 2019.
No. 3: Hardee’s. The chain moved up in the rankings with a total time of 321.6 seconds in 2020. Still, the total time was slower than last year’s 299.0 seconds, which earned the brand the No. 5 ranking.
No. 2: Taco Bell. The Irvine, Calif.-based Mexican-inspired chain was about 9 seconds faster this year. The Yum Brands division logged a total time of 310.2 seconds in 2020 compared to 319.3 seconds in 2019. While it was less than a 10-second improvement, that was enough to catapult the brand from its No. 8 ranking in 2019 to No. 2 this year.
What’s going on? At the beginning of the pandemic, some Taco Bell restaurants stopped serving breakfast. The chain told NRN this week that the breakfast menu is "slowly" rolling back systemwide.
Taco Bell has also trimmed its menu a few times over the past 12 months in a move to declutter the menu. Two major trims came in September 2019 and August 2020, where more than 20 items were eliminated from the menu. The brand plans to trim more items in November.
Jen Somers, vice president of global operations services for Taco Bell, said internal data indicates that the brand's drive-thru lanes are about 15 seconds faster as a result of recent menu changes.
"Our menu evolution efforts have not only allowed us to make more room for future innovations, but combined with increased digital efforts, have simplified our guests’ overall journey in our drive-thrus, from ordering to pick-up," Somers told NRN.
No. 1: KFC. The Louisville, Ky.-based fried-chicken chain, a division of Yum Brands, was the top finisher with a Total time of 283.3 seconds in 2020. Last year, it ranked No. 3 with a Total time of 284.8 seconds.
It should be pointed out that the brand’s No. 1 finishing time was still slower than the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked brands from last year: Dunkin’ (260.7 seconds) and Carl’s Jr. (276.6 seconds). That underscores the overall challenges each brand faced during an unprecedented year.
Van Kesteren also noted that KFC's average number of cars in line was 1.5. The overall average of cars in line across all 10 brands was 3.2. That meant they had less business so the chain’s “time is going to be faster,” she said.
Still, van Kesteren said it was “quite impressive” that KFC maintained roughly the same results as last year given the COVID-19 circumstances. Every brand had to work with retraining team members on new protocols in a “fast and furious” drive-thru situation, she said.
