Sudoku Bliss surveyed frequent fast food customers in 40 states to find out which of 34 drive-thrus they regularly visit have the quickest and longest wait times. Since this report is based on customer feelings, not scientific evidence, and wait times can vary greatly between different locations of the same chain, you may want to take the findings with a grain of salt. But researchers did help account for bias by considering factors like a customer’s history at a restaurant and how often they visit it.
So, which fast food drive-thurs are the slowest?
- Wingstop tops the list. More than half (57%) of customers at their 22-hundred locations across the country say the drive-thrus take a really long time.
- Culvers comes in second, with 53% of diners there considering the drive-thrus to be very slow.
- Church’s Chicken comes in third, followed by Panera, then Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
- Some states seem to have longer waits in the drive-thru, too, with folks in California reporting the longest times, followed by Connecticut and New Mexico.
And the fast food chain with the fastest drive-thru is?
- Nationwide, Chick-fil-A comes in first. Overall, 61% of customers say their drive-thru experiences there are very fast.
- McDonald’s is number two, with 51% of customers reporting speedy service at the Golden Arches.
- Krispy Kreme is third, 47% of those who use the drive-thru regularly are satisfied with how fast they get their doughnuts.
- Cook-out, a chain with over 300 locations in 10 states mainly in the South, is fourth.⠀
Source: Food and Wine⠀
Photo: Fernando Leon / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images