💬 Quoted: “While speed remains crucial, it’s merely one component of a successful drive-thru strategy.”

On Tuesday, QSR and Intouch Insight released the 2024 Drive-Thru Report. Their research was based on an analysis of 1,650+ orders from the top ten fast-food chains in America, who were then ranked across several categories including accuracy, speed, and service.

The fastest: Taco Bell set the pace for the fourth consecutive year, with an average total wait time of 4 minutes and 16 seconds. They were followed closely by KFC at 4 minutes and 19 seconds, while Arby’s (4m 43s) and Dunkin’s (4m 47s) were the only other restaurants with an average wait time under 5 minutes.

The slowest: As usual, Chick-fil-A ranked last by a wide margin. Their customers waited 7 minutes and 59 seconds on average – far higher than the next-closest restaurant (McDonald’s at 6m 16s). But there’s a very obvious reason why: Chick-fil-A is far more popular than other restaurants, averaging nearly 3x as many cars in its drive-thru (3.44) as the overall average (1.23).

🤦‍♀️ I said *no* ketchup… When it comes to the worst drive-thru experience, Dunkin’ and Wendy’s brought up the rear with customer satisfaction rates of 89% and 90%, respectively. Chick-fil-A ranked #1 in overall customer satisfaction (99%), slightly ahead of Raising Cane’s (98%) and McDonald’s (97%).

⛰️ Stat of the Day: Like a teenager, the world’s tallest mountain is in the midst of yet another growth spurt. Mount Everest is gaining an extra 0.8 inches/year in height, thanks to the nearby Arun river, which is eroding its base and has pushed the peak an estimated 50-165 feet higher than it would have been otherwise, according to a study published this week in Nature Geology.

🤔 Did You Know? In 2018, University of Michigan researchers created the world’s smallest computing device, which they used to measure temperature in cancerous tumors. The device’s dimensions measure 0.012 inches x 0.012 inches x 0.0039 inches – more than 10x smaller than a grain of rice.

📰 Worth a Read: The odd Arctic military projects spawned by the Cold War – including a city under ice → (Smithsonian Magazine)