“Out the window sales,” including drive-thru and mobile orders completed through the drive-thru, made up over 50% of sales with a 10% increase over pre-pandemic levels.

Drive-thrus captured 82.4 percent of the spend, up from 66.8 percent in 2019, while counter sales accounted for just 10.6 percent of sales. That’s an acceleration of the downward trend in counter sales, which fell to 29.7 percent of the spend in 2019, down from 34.8 percent in 2018.

To encourage customers to choose reusable and reduce single-use cup waste, Starbucks will continue offering customers a $. In addition, the company is currently testing safe options for allowing personal reusable cups via the drive thru, but for now personal reusable cups will only be accepted in stores.

Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz has admitted that the wait time at Starbucks is not as swift as it used to be, but they’re working on it. With the growing usage of ordering via the mobile app, register lines have shortened, but it’s taking even longer to get your drink, as the baristas are swamped with simultaneous orders.

In 1994, Starbucks opened the first drive-thru location. Total stores 425.

1994
Starbucks started testing out the drive-through market in 1994, first offering the service in Southern California. Within a few years, it had dozens of stores offering drive-through service doing brisk business.

Your drive thru lane is one of the best ways to increase restaurant sales by as much as 8 percent. That’s on top of the estimated 70 percent of sales that take place at drive thru windows.

Last year, their drive-thru locations averaged 53.4 percent more revenue than locations without a drive-thru. Furthermore, drive-thru purchases make up 65 percent of their total sales overall at drive-thru enabled locations.

Order ahead using the Starbucks app. Call the store upon arrival and a partner will bring your order to the store’s front door or your vehicle. When ordering at the drive-thru, customers may skip the speaker box and pull forward to the window.

You Can Now Order Starbucks Cups Online Before Venturing To The Store To Pick It Up. If the cup, tumbler, or other drinkware you desire is available, you can add it to your mobile order. It will be ready for you when you go pick it up!

Dunkin’ Donuts coffee isn’t known for its burnt beans and bitter brews, a common opinion when it comes to Starbucks coffee. Blind taste tests conducted by Consumer Reports consistently rates Starbucks as some of the worst tasting coffee and Dunkin’ as some of the best.

Both McDonald’s and Dunkin’ have Starbucks beat when it comes to drive-through speediness. Comparing coffee order drive-thru times, Dunkin’ came out on top with an average order time of 2.90 minutes, while Starbucks was at the bottom just behind Panera with 4.44 minutes.

By 2010, Starbucks management started to take a hard look at the drive-thru. There were over 2,400 stores with drive-thru, which represented 40 percent of its portfolio. And those 40 percent were driving more than half of the brand’s cash contribution. So the prospect of growing this side of the business was enticing.

Drive-thru’s have become an essential sales channel for quick-serve restaurants of all kinds in 2020. Here are some of the most stunning data points we’ve found. 47 Stunning Drive-Thru Industry Statistics for 2020

The story of its rise to industry leadership includes adopting a new way of looking at the business through individual customer zones, several “aha” moments, and a commitment to developing solutions based on customer needs and behaviors. Early on, Starbucks’ customers told the company they wanted a drive-thru option.

In contrast, Starbucks’ in-store experience relies heavily on having multiple touch points along the customer’s path to purchase. There are promotional banners and window clings at the entry, suggestive-selling messaging prior to the order point. Plus, there’s a seductive pastry case beckoning trial.