Wendy's Restaurants Outsourcing Drive-Thru Orders (WTF?)

[matcom]

<snip>

NASHUA -- When Jairo Moncada pulled up to the drive-through at Wendy's in Burbank, Calif., for his usual cheeseburger, fries, and soda, he knew things looked different. There was an extra lane.

But the 25-year-old could not see the biggest change: The woman taking his lunch order was sitting 3,000 miles away at a computer terminal in Nashua, and fielding calls from Wendy's customers at drive-throughs as far away as Florida and Washington, D.C.

"I had absolutely no idea I was talking to someone in New Hampshire," Moncada said in a phone interview later that day. "Our order was ready at the window. It was really quick."

It took a total of 66 seconds.

The Burbank store is one of several Wendy's restaurants around the country that have been testing the concept, and franchisees plan to expand to at least 200 stores by next spring because the initial tests are so promising. Other fast-food companies, including Burger King, Panda Express, and McDonald's, have also started routing drive-through calls to remote locations to get faster and more accurate orders and let in-store employees concentrate on making food, keeping the store clean, and ringing up sales.

The trend is transforming the fast-food industry in ways that are usually invisible to customers but can yield big results for the restaurants, which count on the drive-through business for about two-thirds of all sales. Every second counts in the race to deliver food faster, and no chain takes that challenge more seriously than Wendy's, which held the top spot as the industry's speediest server for seven straight years until Checker s took first place this year, according to "The Best in Drive-thru 2006" report released last month by QSR magazine. Checker s' average order was delivered in 125.5 seconds, measured from the time the customer reaches the speaker until the bag of food is passed through the window.

That time topped Wendy's by 9.6 seconds. But at the Wendy's stores that use call centers, drive-through transactions are expected to be completed in under 90 seconds.

"Everyone is looking at these call centers," said Dennis Lombardi , executive vice president of food-services strategies at WD Partners in Columbus, Ohio. "You can move orders faster, increase the average check by selling them extras -- 'Would you like fries with that?' -- and improve order accuracy. It will become the norm in the next five to 10 years."

Typically, fast-food workers who handle drive-through calls are multitasking, wearing headsets to take orders while filling drinks or bagging food. It's a high-pressure job and employees often are more concerned about rushing through orders than trying to sell more food or being polite to customers.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/11/05/miles_away_ill_have_a_burger?mode=PF

[liberaldemocrat7]

1. Don't buy anything from GOP contributor Wendy's restaurants.

They give money exclusively to the Republican party.

[nickinSTL]

2. uh, they have to outsource fast-food ordering now?

what, paying $6 an hour is too much?

[Xithras]

10. Outsourcing to NH

So they're still paying $6 an hour. It's just going to a centralized call center instead of some pimply faced 16 year old.

If it improves order accuracy, I'm all for it. Of course, the moment I pull into a Burger King drivethru and get connected to some guy is New Delhi, I'll be pulling right back out. I try to minimize my economic contributions to foreign outsourcers as much as possible.

[BigMcLargehuge]

3. I am impressed only that the VoIP technology that makes this possible

is afforadable enough to make outsourcing such a low paying job profitable. I work as a creator of telecom training so the application of the tech fascinates me.

[crim son]

4. My sister, who worked for years in management consulting,

told me about this "innovation" a few months ago. Apparently even if the order-placement calls are routed to India (!) there is a minute cost savings that adds up to big bucks over thousands of customers. :eyes: It sounded crazy, but apparently it's not.

[bif]

5. They can do this but can't fix voting machine problems?

[jmowreader]

6. It makes a lot of sense to do this

First, they can actually hire people who speak and understand the English language to staff the call centers. There's a Wendy's between the Home Depot and my house that I like to go to sometimes, mainly because you can get into and out of it without driving like some sort of maniac. Their food is of acceptable quality but bless their heart, the person taking the orders can't speak a word of English. Check this one out: I went to the drive-thru once and ordered a Big Bacon Classic, large fries and a medium drink. (If you order the Biggie Size you get large fries and half-gallon drink, and I didn't want that.) I get to the window and was handed a large cup full of ice. "What's this." 'Your large ice." It was about two degrees outside when I ordered this. What the fuck do I want with a large ICE? Now I know to ask for "french fries."

And second, if they don't cut staffing (yeah, that's likely to happen) they can put the order taker in the burger assembly area or on the grill where she is needed.

[Deja Q]

7. Didn't McDonalds try this at one time?

Either way, don't expect their greasy garbage to go down in price... and if you thought the external PA systems were bad enough before, now add in the linguistics barrier...

Also, given they say it's a multitasking job that actually sounds demanding, they ought to be paid more. We're told hard workers get paid more... so why do CEOs play golf all day and the lower classes work harder and more often?

[CatholicEdHead]

9. They may still be doing it

I think maybe along US 10 in St Cloud and somewhere else on the Iron Range. I am not sure of any more that are doing it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. All this technology

and fast food still sucks. :puke:

[mitchum]

11. Another reason I'm glad that I don't eat that swill

[Momgonepostal]

12. He brings up a good point, though

That story was about a Wendy's in Burbank, which may or may not have a higher minimum wage than Nashua, NH. Will fast food places try to locate call centers in cheaper states?

I had the same thought you did about India.

[MrCoffee]

13. you still have people on-site actually making the food...

seems like this would make their jobs a little easier, by not having people yelling in their ear while they're counting change.

still seems wrong, though.