Fast food: Who's the fastest?

By Dave Siff

updated 2:32 PM EDT, Mon October 08, 2012

NEED TO KNOW

New survey ranks drive-thrus on speed and accuracy
Wendy's leads in speed; Chick-fil-A gets most orders right
Survey covers six major chains plus one regional brand

According to Wendy's slogan, "It's better here." While that may be a matter of taste, there's no disputing the chain puts the "fast" in fast food.

Wendy's customers have the shortest average wait time at the drive-thru, according to a survey from QSR magazine. At two minutes and 10 seconds, Wendy's far outpaced the competition. Taco Bell is second-fastest, but lags a full 20 seconds behind Wendy's. Burger King brings up the rear, with an average service time of three minutes and 20 seconds.

So, if your drive-thru isn't lightning-fast, that must mean it's getting more orders right. Right? Wrong.

Not only was Burger King's drive-thru the slowest, it was also the least accurate, getting 83 percent of orders correct. Regional chicken chain Bojangles did just a hair better. Wendy's was right in the middle of the pack. The best drive-thru for accuracy? Chick-fil-A, which got it right 97 percent of the time. Chick-fil-A also scored tops overall in customer service.

The survey also ranked drive-thrus in some offbeat categories, like percentage of Dumpsters visible (Burger King and Taco Bell had the least), condition of landscaping (Chick-fil-A scored a perfect 100, but no one did worse than 96) and speaker clarity (Taco Bell won.)

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