As far as Pizza Hut, the location nearest to my residence just so happens to have a drive-thru.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.
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.
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.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.
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).