POS for drive-thrus

A drive-thru is a queue you can see from the street. Every step, from the speaker to the window, is measured in seconds, and mistakes are expensive because the guest is gone before they find them. This guide covers what a drive-thru POS has to do and what to test before you sign.

What to measure

Most drive-thru operators watch a handful of numbers. A POS should time them for you, by daypart:

• Order time: from greeting to order total.
• Window time: from arrival at the window to handoff.
• Total time: from the speaker to driving away.
• Cars per hour through each lane.
• Accuracy: remakes and refunds per hundred orders.

Use these to compare your own shifts and stores. We don't publish target times, because the right targets depend on your menu and kitchen.

Taking the order: headsets and the confirmation screen

• Enter while listening. The order taker should key the order on the POS while the guest speaks, not write it down first. Fast modifier buttons and combos matter more here than anywhere.
• Confirmation screen. A customer-facing screen at the speaker shows each item as it's entered, so the guest can catch mistakes before they reach the window. Check that the POS can drive your menu-board or confirmation screen, and what hardware it needs.
• Headset integration. If you use a headset system, ask whether it connects to the POS (for example, to start the order timer when a car arrives) or runs separately.

The kitchen queue

• A dedicated drive-thru queue on the kitchen display, separate from dine-in and online orders, in the order cars will reach the window.
• Car or lane labels on each ticket, so the bagger knows which order is which.
• Bump and recall, so a ticket bumped by mistake can be brought back.
• Timers on each ticket, colored as they age.

The kitchen display guide covers screens, routing and costs.

Two lanes, one window

Dual-lane drive-thrus take orders in two lanes that merge before the window. The POS has to keep the merged order sequence right:

• Each order labeled by lane.
• A way for staff to set the merge order as cars merge, so the kitchen and window queues match the line of cars.
• One payment queue at the window, in merge order.

In the demo, take two orders in alternating lanes, merge them out of order, and see whether the window screen shows the right order first.

Pay at the window, or pay first

• Two windows: pay at the first, collect at the second. The POS needs to pass the order from the payment window to the handoff window.
• One window: pay and collect together. Tap-to-pay readers on a cord or handheld speed this up.
• Line-busting: staff take orders and payments on handhelds in the lane at peak, feeding the same queue.

Mobile orders in the drive-thru

Guests who ordered ahead on your app or website may pick up in the drive-thru or a separate lane. The order needs a pickup code the guest can say at the speaker, and it should join the kitchen queue timed to their arrival, not the moment they ordered. See the online ordering guide.

Menus by time of day

Breakfast, lunch and late-night menus should switch automatically on schedule, on the order screen, the confirmation screen and the menu boards together. Running out of an item should take it off every screen at once.

When the internet drops

A drive-thru can't stop for an outage. Ask exactly what keeps working offline: taking orders, the kitchen queue, the confirmation screen and card payments. Vendors document offline card payments differently. Square, for example, says offline payments must be uploaded "within 24 hours (no later than 72 hours)", and Toast's offline article says the merchant is "responsible for any declined, expired, or disputed offline payment transactions".

Daily reports

• Times by daypart and by lane.
• Cars per hour against labor scheduled.
• Voids, remakes and refunds by shift.
• Top-selling items and combos, to keep the fastest items easiest to ring.

What to bring to the demo

1. Your menu with combos and the modifiers people use most.
2. Your lane and window layout.
3. Your confirmation screen or menu-board hardware, if you have it.
4. How you handle mobile-order pickup today.

Then run the general tests in how to choose a restaurant POS.