Short staffed restaurants

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DFWRetaileWatcher
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

cjd wrote: September 18th, 2021, 3:37 pm I always wondered about those PIzza Huts that have drive-thrus. Were they just for picking up pre-ordered items? A drive thru there doesn't make sense due to the wait times.

Seems most of those around here were on the few built in the mid to late 1980s, typically really small town ones that never got one in the 70s. There's also a 2000s era Pizza Hut here that has one as well. I do remember as a kid we'd go through it to get those Personal Pan Pizzas you'd get from the Book It program. Maybe those didn't take long to bake.

Two of the Subways in my town have a walk up window for pick up orders. They're both older ones probably from the 1980s, and were always a Subway. I guess it's meant to speed things up by skipping the line. Newer ones I haven't noticed having one. The Subway in my hometown was actually in an old Whataburger A frame building, and I seem to remember it may have had a drive thru as well. It's not something any of the ones here have though, and that building is long since gone.
As far as Pizza Hut, the location nearest to my residence just so happens to have a drive-thru.

And to answer your question, it is utilized specifically for picking up pre-orders. Customers who want to place an order are directed to come inside.
storewanderer wrote: September 19th, 2021, 12:28 am I have seen Little Caesar and Domino locations with drive through and they are typically for pick up orders. I suppose someone could go to it to order, but having them wait at the window for 20 minutes certainly would not make much sense.

I had also heard of Domino locations using the drive through windows to pass orders out to delivery drivers to save the drivers time and keep it so they did not have to keep going in and out of the unit to collect deliveries.
As far as Little Caesars, back when I was still in Detroit, one of the nearest locations to my residence just so happened to have a drive thru. The location is still open today, though I'm not sure if they still use the drive-thru.

In any event, the drive-thru system works for Little Caesars because the vast majority of Pizzas they sell are "Hot -N-Ready," versus made-to-order.

A Domino's with a drive thru is a new one to me though (I've never seen one).
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by BillyGr »

DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: September 19th, 2021, 10:23 pm
cjd wrote: September 18th, 2021, 3:37 pm I always wondered about those PIzza Huts that have drive-thrus. Were they just for picking up pre-ordered items? A drive thru there doesn't make sense due to the wait times.

Seems most of those around here were on the few built in the mid to late 1980s, typically really small town ones that never got one in the 70s. There's also a 2000s era Pizza Hut here that has one as well. I do remember as a kid we'd go through it to get those Personal Pan Pizzas you'd get from the Book It program. Maybe those didn't take long to bake.
As far as Pizza Hut, the location nearest to my residence just so happens to have a drive-thru.

And to answer your question, it is utilized specifically for picking up pre-orders. Customers who want to place an order are directed to come inside.
If they are using the drive thru setup, they could still easily take orders there. It would be just like someone calling the order in, they would be told when to drive back up for pickup.

They just need to be sure in that case that the drive-thru lane is open enough so that after ordering the customer can get past those waiting for actual pickups to go do whatever until it is time to return for pickup.

Not much difference than having the customer go inside and order - they still have to wait for it, and this way could choose to do something else and come back.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by pseudo3d »

The Domino's drive throughs are meant for pick-up orders, so they can quickly just hand out pre-paid pizzas or take money orders. They really don't like it if you try to order a pizza from the window, and will refuse if the line is backed up.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

I know of a Domino's dine-in restaurant in the parking lot of Sears at Sunvalley Mall in Concord, California. It is quite new and large. It is suffering as dine-in is not popular. They picked a bad time to try dine in for a Domino's. The delivery and take out counter store is the most cost efficient design.

I passed by a dine in McDonald's in San Leandro, California that has no drive thru. They close earlier than their posted closing time at 8 or 9 PM. They are doing terribly without a drive thru and nobody seems to want to dine-in.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Super S »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 21st, 2021, 9:36 pm I know of a Domino's dine-in restaurant in the parking lot of Sears at Sunvalley Mall in Concord, California. It is quite new and large. It is suffering as dine-in is not popular. They picked a bad time to try dine in for a Domino's. The delivery and take out counter store is the most cost efficient design.

I passed by a dine in McDonald's in San Leandro, California that has no drive thru. They close earlier than their posted closing time at 8 or 9 PM. They are doing terribly without a drive thru and nobody seems to want to dine-in.
Domino's has two locations here, one which moved in to a former restaurant, and one that is a new-build which also has a drive-thru. Both have indoor dining. They don't have the feel of a traditional pizza parlor and are more like a fast food restaurant. I have never seen more than one or two tables occupied at any given time, and it was like this well before Covid.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

Not surprised to see DFW rank near the bottom for quality of service and ambience (amongst all top 25 markets), based on my anecdotal experience...

“Understaffed”: New restaurant report shows worker shortage affecting ‘guest satisfaction’ and sales

https://www.dallasnews.com/food/restaur ... and-sales/
Black Box Intelligence, a Dallas-based restaurant analytics company, found a downturn in sales growth and customer satisfaction nationally, as well as in Dallas, for the month of August...

...In Dallas, guest satisfaction fell, too. With the use of natural language processing, Black Box classifies online reviews into positive, neutral and negative mentions, and Dallas ranked 20th out of the nation’s top 25 markets for quality of service, and 21st in restaurant “ambience”...

...Orlando ranked highest in customer sentiment in all six areas except service, which Philadelphia led. As for sales, Phoenix had the highest same-store sales growth in the nation this summer, based on Black Box’s findings.

In its August Guest Satisfaction Snapshot, which draws on data from 50,000 restaurants nationally, Black Box reports guests are only marginally more positive about the food they’re eating compared to a year ago.

The small improvement in positive food mentions, “despite the easy comparison a year ago, highlights the difficulties restaurants are facing regarding food execution due to staffing shortages and supply chain issues,” a press release states.

Fernandez says that staffing issues remain clients’ top concern in polls. Black Box’s work force intelligence product shows limited- and quick-service restaurants have roughly one less employee than 2019. Full-service restaurants are averaging a total of six less servers and hosts, as well as three less kitchen employees.

Fernandez adds that Black Box’s guest intelligence product has begun tracking “understaffed” mentions in online reviews. Overall, “guest sentiment has dropped across the board for quarters one and two,” he says. “Guests are talking about service problems and wait times, portion sizes, and problems around food quality as restaurants struggle to get their usual supply.”

The biggest drop in customer sentiment year-over-year was related to restaurant “ambience,” a category Fernandez defines primarily as cleanliness, but also includes appearance and decor. The last three months have experienced the lowest percentage of ambience positive mentions since the beginning of the year, the August report states...
And a link to a snapshot of the report itself:

https://blackboxintelligence.com/rgssna ... staurants/
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: September 22nd, 2021, 8:45 am Not surprised to see DFW rank near the bottom for quality of service and ambience (amongst all top 25 markets), based on my anecdotal experience...
If DFW is at the bottom, Reno must be a few miles underground.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Brian Lutz »

Of course, it's not just restaurants having trouble finding people. Yesterday I went to a Sportsman's Warehouse store in Everett, and as I walked in immediately at the door I was greeted by an employee asking if I knew anyone looking for a job. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever been asked that at a store...
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

If only companies could find hard working people willing to work for low wages and few benefits.

Where would we find such people? Is there a people supply problem in the country? Do we need to attract more people?
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by babs »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 25th, 2021, 5:53 pm If only companies could find hard working people willing to work for low wages and few benefits.

Where would we find such people? Is there a people supply problem in the country? Do we need to attract more people?
Looking at the Southern border, we are attracting more people. It's the border patrol turning them away.
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