Did Wendy's Really Invent The Drive-Thru?

Wendy's is associated with bringing innovation to fast food, from its square burger patties to its inspired Frosty treats. The chain is also responsible for modernizing how that food is served, as Wendy's adapted drive-thru service into the system we know today. In 1970, barely a year after the world's first Wendy's opened in Columbus, Ohio, founder Dave Thomas opened the first freestanding Wendy's location in the city which included a pick-up window.

Wendy's has publicly admitted that a window from which customers could grab food without entering the restaurant wasn't new, but claims it hadn't been done successfully. One of the first restaurants to cater to nascent car culture was Dallas, Texas-based Kirby's Pig Stand in the 1920s when it introduced the idea of a carhop restaurant. Demand for Kirby's food outgrew its nonexistent dining room and small parking lot. Looking for a solution to its limited parking space, Kirby's invented the drive-thru to keep customers moving.

Other restaurants followed suit over the decades, typically in a move to increase service beyond the confines of a small dining space. Red's Giant Hamburg opened in 1947 along Route 66 in Missouri, operated out of a converted gas station, and was one of the first establishments to have a drive-up window with speakers. West Coast restaurants picked up the trend in the 1950s, with In-N-Out and Jack in the Box debuting their drive-thru services equipped with comparable speaker systems. Though arriving on the fast food scene earlier than Wendy's, neither McDonald's nor Burger King introduced drive-thru service to its operations until 1975, five years after the first Wendy's pick-up window opened.

In 2023, Wendy's began testing new drive-thru technology at a location in Westerville, Ohio that employs Google Cloud generative AI to help inform customers' order choices. Known as Wendy's FreshAI, the idea is that using tech to take orders frees up the human employees to prepare food faster or to assist in-store diners with more complicated requests. The chain most recently added expanded language capabilities to FreshAI, so Spanish-speaking customers can order in their native tongue.

Initial reports indicate that the chatbot service increased service times at a Columbus Wendy's location by 22 seconds – crucial for the company's bottom line. Drive-thru visits have increased at restaurants overall since 2020, which means the drive-thru is taking more time. Quicker times at Wendy's can improve customer sentiment and create more opportunities to sell Saucy Nuggs.

Dave Thomas couldn't have anticipated this evolution of the drive-thru he helped innovate but would have embraced the choice to expedite service while also focusing on the customer experience. As noted in his memoir "Dave's Way", Thomas credited bringing increased food sales in an early job to anticipating diner's needs. Of that success, Thomas observed, "Rounding out the menu to match the customer made all the difference."