Significations et usages de Drive-through

  McDonald's drive drive-through windows in the UK.

  Some fast food chains, such as this Rally's located near New Orleans, LA, have two drive-throughs.

  Drive-through mailboxes in USA.

A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s^[1] but has since spread to other countries. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive up window teller was the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri in 1930. The drive up teller only allowed deposits at that time period.^[2]

Orders are generally placed using a microphone and picked up in person at the window. A drive-through is different from a drive-in in several ways— The cars create a line and move in one direction in drive-throughs, and do not park, whereas drive-ins allow cars to park next to each other, the food is generally brought to the window by a server, called a carhop, and the customer can remain in the parked car to eat.

Drive-throughs have generally replaced drive-ins in popular culture, and are now found in the vast majority of modern American fast-food chains. Sometimes, a store with a drive-through is referred to as a "drive-through," or the term is attached to the service, such as, "drive-through restaurant," or "drive-through bank."

Drive-throughs typically have signs over the drive-through lanes to show customers which lanes are open for business. The types of signage used is usually illuminated so the "open" message can be changed to a "closed" message when the lane is not available.

  Examples

  McDonald's first two-lane drive-through was at the Rock N Roll McDonald's in Chicago.

• Alcohol at a drive-through liquor store
• Banking services at a drive-through bank
• Postal services at a drive-through mailbox
• Coffee at a drive-through coffee shop
• Dairy products at a drive-through dairy store (notably the Skinner Dairy shops of North-East Florida or Dairy Barn in Long Island)
• Prescriptions at a drive-through pharmacy
• Food or drink at a drive-through restaurant (typically fast food)
• Marriage (primarily at special drive-through marriage chapels in Las Vegas in the United States)
• Funeral home where mourners can drive by and view the remains of their loved ones through windows.^[3]
• Pennsylvania State Representative Kevin P. Murphy installed a drive-through window designed to speed constituent service.^[4]

  Restaurants

  A typical Australian McDonald's drive through with speaker.

A drive-through restaurant generally consists of:

• A speaker and microphone for customers to order from
• A speaker and microphone or wireless headset system for employees to hear the customer's order (when a speaker is used)
• A trigger pad beneath the concrete to activate the microphone and headset, possibly augmented with a CCTV camera
• One or more free-standing signs listing the menu items, called a menu board
• Newer drive-throughs feature a LCD or LED display within the speaker system in order to show the full order and total cost to avert order errors through miscommunication. At many Yum! Brands restaurants a secondary display featuring the total is placed directly next to the order window.
• Windows where employees interact with customers by processing the customer's payment and giving them their order. Most drive-throughs have either one window serving both functions, or two windows with the first being used for payment and the second used for retrieving the order.
• Some restaurants have a marked waiting area just beyond the last window. If there is a significant delay in a customer's order, an employee may direct that customer to wait in this area, clearing the drive-through lane for the next customer and preventing delays to other customers. When the order is ready, an employee hand-delivers the order to the customer in the waiting area.

Drive-through designs are different from restaurant to restaurant; however, most drive-throughs can accommodate four to six passenger cars or trucks at once (called the queue).^{[citation needed]}

According to author Michael Karl Witzel, drive-through windows were a method first tested as far back as 1931 by the Texas Pig Stand chain. In-n-Out Burger claims to have built the first drive-through restaurant in 1948. Harry and Esther Snyder, the chain's founders, built their first restaurant in Baldwin Park, California, with a two-way speaker to enable patrons to order directly from their cars without the intermediation of a carhop.^[5] Maid-Rite also claims to have had the first drive through window. Other sources cite Jack in the Box as the first major restaurant specifically designed as a drive-through and featuring a two-way intercom.^[6] The first Jack in the Box opened in 1951 in San Diego. The drive-through concept was so unfamiliar to people at the time that the Jack in the Box "clown," where the speaker was housed, held a sign saying, "Pull forward, Jack will speak to you."

However, according to Michael Wallis, author of Route 66: The Mother Road, and known to U.S. Route 66 historians and enthusiasts, Red's Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri is home to "the world's first drive-through window".

  McDonald's

Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the first city to have a McDonald's drive-through. The first McDonald’s drive-through was created in 1975 near Fort Huachuca, a military base located adjacent to the city—to serve soldiers who weren’t permitted to get out of their cars while wearing fatigues.^[7] The original McDonald's was closed down and demolished in May 1999 and a new McDonald's replaced it.

The first drive-through restaurant (a McDonald's drive-through) in Europe opened at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland in 1985.^[8]

In Spain and Russia, McDonald's drive-through services are often called McAuto.

In the Netherlands, Germany, France, and other northern European countries, McDonald's drive-through service is called McDrive.

In Argentina, McDonald's drive-through service is called AutoMAC.

  Banking

  A drive-through shared by a bank and a coffee shop.

In 1928, City Center Bank, which became UMB Financial Corporation, president R. Crosby Kemper opened what is considered the first drive-up window.^{[citation needed]} Shortly after the Grand National Bank in St Louis opened up a drive through, including a slot to the side for night time deposits.^[9] Westminster Bank opened the UK's first drive-through bank in Liverpool in 1959, soon followed by Ulster Bank opening Ireland's first in 1961 at Finaghy.^[10]

In recent years, there has been a decline in drive-through banking due to increased traffic congestion and the increased availability of automated teller machines and telephone and Internet banking.^{[citation needed]} However, many bank buildings now feature drive-through ATMs.

  Non-car usage

  Some businesses are built only for drive-through service, like this espresso shop.

Pedestrians sometimes attempt to walk through the drive-through to order food after the seated section of a fast-food restaurant has closed. Many establishments refuse drive-through service to pedestrians for safety, insurance, and liability reasons, such as Jack in the Box.^[11] Cyclists are usually refused service with the same justification given.^[12] However, in the summer of 2009, Burgerville gave use of the drive-thru window to bicyclists.^[13] Similar issues can arise in rural areas for people on horseback or in a horse-drawn carriage.^[14]

  A drive thru only Tim Hortons location in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

  See also

• Drive-in

  References

  External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Drive-throughs

• Annual QSR Drive-Thru Performance Study