Wendy's

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Re: Wendy's

Post by cjd »

cjd wrote: October 14th, 2018, 1:37 pm One thing I've noticed with the Wendy's location here is that the first drive through window is closed when I go. It's a big poster on it, so I suspect that is always the case. So you pay at the pick up window, which does slow service down. Although, the older second location only had one window if I remember right.
Well what do you know. Today I went to Wendy's drive thru and very surprisingly, the first window was open and there was someone there taking payments. She told me she could only take cash at that window and that if I was using a card I'd need to pay at pick up.

I was really surprised to see the window in use, as it had been years since I had seen this. I made a comment that they never seem to use the first window and she said "we just started today."

I wonder what the reasoning is for this sudden change? I assume the card reader has not been set up to take card payments at that terminal and will be eventually.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by storewanderer »

cjd wrote: May 24th, 2022, 6:39 pm

Well what do you know. Today I went to Wendy's drive thru and very surprisingly, the first window was open and there was someone there taking payments. She told me she could only take cash at that window and that if I was using a card I'd need to pay at pick up.

I was really surprised to see the window in use, as it had been years since I had seen this. I made a comment that they never seem to use the first window and she said "we just started today."

I wonder what the reasoning is for this sudden change? I assume the card reader has not been set up to take card payments at that terminal and will be eventually.
There are many reasons to have the cash handling at the first window. If you have cash handling at the second window along with order taking, someone filling drinks, someone running back and forth fulfilling orders, etc., there is "too much going on" at that window and it makes it difficult to investigate a cash shortage.

A Wendys running optimal staffing (haven't seen this in years outside some well run Sacramento units or the Pilot units) would have one employee positioned at the window 1 for cash handling, a second employee positioned somewhere else taking orders via speaker, a third employee filling drinks, a fourth employee expediting orders (filling bag with burger and fries), and a fifth employee handing off the order to you at second window.

Also if we still want to think about COVID that old social distancing thing, moving someone to the first window to do cash handling helps distance that employee from others and also makes fewer around the pick up window so those employees aren't quite as squeezed together either.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by Alpha8472 »

A very busy Wendy's near me has always used 2 windows. You pay at the first window and pick up at the second window. It is much more efficient with two windows. In fact, for some reason the second window cannot take payment at all. If someone drives past the first window an employee has to walk the credit card back to the first window to pay. This is the only Wendy's around for miles after the notorious Wendy's on Monument Boulevard in Concord closed down. That is the area where you see drug dealers selling guns and drugs out the trunks of cars at the FoodMaxx and the recently closed Rite Aid.

This Wendy's is really popular and there is a constant line of cars snaked around the building until 2 AM everyday. This restaurant is perfection. I have never gotten an incorrect order here. The restaurant is top of the line. The interior is spotless. They compete with a Chick-fil-A across the street so this Wendy's has got everything running efficiently.

The other Wendy's in the area is about 20 minutes away in Pacheco, California and that restaurant said that they do not accept mobile orders as of the last time that I was there. They have much less business at that location and the close early.

The McDonald's in the area use 2 windows. You pay at the first window and then you get the food at the second. In fact, the newest McDonald's has 3 windows. The third window is a second pickup window for people whose orders take longer. Then there is a late 90s McDonald's farther south with 3 windows. They don't use the first window, but they have payment at the second window and pick up at the third window. The first window used to be an order window.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on May 25th, 2022, 4:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by veteran+ »

Wendy's may be for sale!

:o :o :o :o
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Re: Wendy's

Post by jamcool »

Again?
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Re: Wendy's

Post by cjd »

Alpha8472 wrote: May 25th, 2022, 4:11 am A very busy Wendy's near me has always used 2 windows. You pay at the first window and pick up at the second window. It is much more efficient with two windows. In fact, for some reason the second window cannot take payment at all. If someone drives past the first window an employee has to walk the credit card back to the first window to pay. This is the only Wendy's around for miles after the notorious Wendy's on Monument Boulevard in Concord closed down. That is the area where you see drug dealers selling guns and drugs out the trunks of cars at the FoodMaxx and the recently closed Rite Aid.

This Wendy's is really popular and there is a constant line of cars snaked around the building until 2 AM everyday. This restaurant is perfection. I have never gotten an incorrect order here. The restaurant is top of the line. The interior is spotless. They compete with a Chick-fil-A across the street so this Wendy's has got everything running efficiently.

The other Wendy's in the area is about 20 minutes away in Pacheco, California and that restaurant said that they do not accept mobile orders as of the last time that I was there. They have much less business at that location and the close early.

The McDonald's in the area use 2 windows. You pay at the first window and then you get the food at the second. In fact, the newest McDonald's has 3 windows. The third window is a second pickup window for people whose orders take longer. Then there is a late 90s McDonald's farther south with 3 windows. They don't use the first window, but they have payment at the second window and pick up at the third window. The first window used to be an order window.
The McDonald's here (both built in 1994) both used to have the 3 window setup with the first for ordering but I don't remember the fact to face ordering setup ever actually being used. I think typically the first or second window was closed and either the first or second used for payment and then the third used for pickup.

One of those locations was demolished and rebuilt a few years ago and has the two window setup with another window for slow order pickup like you mention. Which is kind of out in an area that appears to be for drink prep.

The other one was remodeled around 2012 but only has two windows.

Another I've seen that got remodeled added a third window for slow orders but it's out in the the dining room rather than a separate employee only area.

The Wendy's I mention is very interesting as it's the only one I can think of around that has never gotten the updated remodel and signage. It still retains its original signage and decor from about 2004 when it was built. It did get a new self serve soda fountain rather the one built into the counter but that's the only updating it's had.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by Alpha8472 »

The Wendy's near me remodeled around 2004 and also got self serve Coke Freestyle machines a few years ago.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by Brian Lutz »

There's are a number of Wendy's in the local area here that have not yet been updated to current decor, and several of these continue to operate with the same decor package they had in the 1990s, and have no self serve drink machines. Among the ones that I know of are the locations in Redmond, Downtown Bellevue, Woodinville, Marysville and Smokey Point (Arlington). There are also a couple of locations in Everett (the Broadway and Evergreen Way locations) that got full interior and exterior remodels, but for some reason opted to keep the older style signage on the building (particularly odd because the street signs did get updated.)

As for drive thru windows, I know if a few with two windows but I have never seen more than one in use except the Lake Stevens one (which was a new build in 2018.) When the Snohomish McDonald's was torn down and rebuilt (former Mansard location) in 2020 the drive thru lane was rebuilt with the 3 window setup mentioned above (My wife calls it the "naughty window" since you probably broke McDonald's if you get sent there.) The third window is out near the Playplace, which is just now being installed. Oddly enough, this one has not yet installed a drink machine in the dine in seating area even though there is space for one, and at this point it's possible they might just not do so.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: May 25th, 2022, 1:45 pm Wendy's may be for sale!

:o :o :o :o
Not sure why YUM never buys them. Probably a good thing though.
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Re: Wendy's

Post by jamcool »

Yum already owns a burger chain…Habit Burger
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