The shortcut lane is the heartbeat of any successful quick service restaurant. An efficient and well-managed drive-through is the key to moving more cars at peak times for maximum profitability.

At the center of that operation is the drive-through base station. Today’s base stations have advanced along with other technologies to embrace the superior clarity of digital sound (over original analog systems). Digital systems ushered in the era of faster service times and greater order accuracy. In fact, a study published in QSR Magazine found that switching from an analog to a digital system helped operators speed up service times by 8-10 seconds per customer.

And while the base station used to be simply a device for managing employee-customer communication in self-service, it has now been transformed into a complete management tool.

Some systems give managers the ability to schedule communications that “greet” the customer as soon as they pull up at the drive-thru. This “Greetings” feature gives QSRs the ability to promote special offers at various parts of the day and improve verification averages. And because greetings are set to play automatically, staff can focus on processing orders, not promoting special offers.

Routine tasks like stocking the station, checking the restroom, and having employees wash their hands are just part of the daily operation of any quick-service restaurant. The problem is that today’s managers spend a lot of time reminding employees to do these things. Scheduling these types of ‘Reminders’ to play automatically on employees’ headsets is a feature of some base stations that takes the responsibility off the manager.

In some cases, the base station can also be linked to key areas of the restaurant, so it will automatically send ‘Alert’ messages to staff members if there are developments affecting food safety and employee safety. For example, if someone leaves the refrigerator door open or the back door open at night.

From the communications coordinator to the management tool, the base station is the command center for running efficient and profitable self-service.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *