Let’s get this out of the way: The fast-food business isn’t called “fast food” for nothing. Speed is important. Customers like convenience. They’re increasingly in a hurry. And if a restaurant doesn’t meet expectations for that speed, then customers will go somewhere else.
But speed is nevertheless an overrated metric. Customers have far higher expectations than that. What they really want is value, consistency—and friendly service.
“Too fast is too fast because then you’re just throwing food at people,” Joe Hoffman, chief restaurant officer for big Burger King franchisee Carrols Restaurant Group, said in an interview.
He noted that Burger King has backed off its speed requirements, “because friendliness means more than speed.”
“If you can deliver with a smile and hot food, they might forgive you 20 seconds,” Hoffman added.
As we said, speed in the fast-food world is still important. We’ve spent the past couple of days visiting Starbucks, where executives will stress that failing to have a mobile order ready in the time it takes a customer to get to a store after placing it can frustrate customers.
At the same time, the company stresses its emphasis on “caring” for its staff, and building connections with them, even for a short period of time as customers get their coffee orders through the drive-thru.
Lisa Miller, a consumer strategist, surveys consumers every month. She found that, among a list of 10 attributes in a restaurant visit, “prompt and efficient service” was rated lower than all but one.
“Friendly, attentive service was statistically higher than prompt service,” she said on this week’s episode of my podcast “A Deeper Dive.” “In QSR, it’s all about speed. I got to get through that drive-thru line. The reality of it is, are operators spending enough time to really deliver friendly, attentive service and employees that care?”
Indeed, consider for a minute some of the most successful restaurant chains in the U.S. right now. Chick-fil-A has soared to become the third largest concept in the country, seemingly overnight. Much of the industry focused on its chicken sandwiches. But the restaurants’ friendly service tends to win over customers just as much, if not more. And its service isn’t as fast as many of its rivals.
Raising Cane’s, In-N-Out, Culver’s and others have built their businesses less on speed and more on other metrics customers want.
So, in an era of mobile ordering and digital technology, where drive-thrus command three-quarters of the business and kiosks are increasingly prevalent, customers still really like friendly service.