The Surge in Off-Premise Dining: Why Drive-Thrus Need a Tech Upgrade to Keep Up

Consumers now expect food to be available whenever and wherever they want it—whether that’s a quick lunch at work, dinner at home, or a meal while running errands. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) such as McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A have built their success on delivering fast, reliable meals that fit into busy lives.

The pandemic permanently shifted these expectations. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 State of the Industry Report, 72% of QSR orders now happen off-premise through drive-thru, curbside, delivery, or mobile order-ahead.

This shift has redefined the industry. Faster service, greater accuracy, and higher staff workloads have become standard. Meeting these expectations is now one of the most pressing challenges for QSR operators.

The Hidden Strain: Beverage Operations Under Pressure

Modern drive-thrus are focused on getting complete meals out the window at record speeds.

Multitasking Demand

Drive-thru staff often juggle several roles at once: taking orders, relaying them to the kitchen, checking accuracy, retrieving food, pouring drinks, and handing orders to customers. This constant task-switching increases the chance of errors and fatigue, especially during peak hours.

Manual Drink Delays

Unlike hot food, which can be prepped in batches, drinks are typically made one at a time with limited staging space. Staff have to pause the workflow to fill, lid, and hand off each drink, which slows service and reduces accuracy during a rush.

Aiming for Efficiency

For operators, even removing a single repetitive step—such as manual drink prep—can speed up service, reduce stress, and improve consistency. Streamlined workflows open the door to automation, process redesign, and staffing strategies that keep employees focused on delivering fast, high-quality service.

The Industry Shift Toward Smart, Targeted Automation

Quick-service restaurants are turning to automation as a direct response to labor constraints and rising demand for efficiency. Automating even one step—such as drink prep or timed cooking—can ease pressure on staff, improve order accuracy, and speed up fulfillment without replacing people.

The global food automation market is already reflecting this trend. Valued at $15 billion in 2024, it’s projected to grow at 11% CAGR, reaching $16.7 billion in 2025. In the U.S., 58% of operators plan to increase IT spend this year, with automation at the center. Notable examples include Chipotle’s “Autocado” robot and Sweetgreen’s Infinite Kitchen, both designed to streamline workflows rather than create flashy gimmicks.

The most successful integrations are targeted, solving everyday operational pain points and giving staff more room to deliver fast, high-quality service. 

Case Example: How Freddy's Identified a Beverage Bottleneck

One of the leading fast food chains on the market is Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. The restaurant chain used data-driven decision-making to target optimized results in fast food automation. Their upgrade resulted in freeing up labor, improving guest experiences, and reducing strain at the drive-thru window.

Freddy's partnered with Cornelius (part of Marmon Foodservice Technologies) to observe peak drive-thru workflows through a targeted time-and-motion study. Key findings revealed a critical stress point: The window position was drastically overloaded with tasks. The same person taking orders over the headset was also expected to:

• Relay orders to the kitchen
• Retrieve finished food
• Double-check order accuracy
• Manually pour all the drinks for each order at the last minute
• Stage drinks and food with little space
• Handle the window hand-off

During peak hours, the window-side workload was so heavy that it required two employees working at maximum speed just to keep up. While the entire workflow is intense, drinks stood out as the primary point of delays and challenges. This made them the optimal target for automation to reduce demand on staff and improve overall order accuracy.

Findings in Action

Drinks emerged as the top target for automation because they are repetitive, time-consuming, prone to spills, and take up valuable space. Freddy’s determined that automating cold beverage fulfillment would remove this friction point without requiring a kitchen overhaul.

After piloting a Cornelius beverage automation system, the results were clear:

• Time Saving
  
  • Automation reduced the time-per-order by 20-30 seconds
  • The cumulative time-saving added up to 2 crew hours per shift
• Labor Redeployment
  
  • The second person at the window was no longer needed
  • This freed up a critical staff member for other tasks
• Quality Impact
  
  • The available staff member could focus on guest interactions, order accuracy, and improved kitchen communications

Strategic Automation

Instead of pursuing full kitchen robotics, Freddy’s focused on drinks: a high-ROI process that integrates smoothly into existing workflows and requires little retraining. Staff quickly embraced the change, happy to offload a repetitive, low-skill task.

This fits Freddy’s broader approach: start by automating simple, repetitive work to free up staff for higher-value tasks. The beverage pilot showed that targeted automation delivers measurable ROI in labor efficiency, guest experience, and employee satisfaction.

The real win is not only faster service but also reduced strain on staff and greater focus on quality interactions.

Why This Matters: A Roadmap for Future-Focused QSRs

Human-first automation is the path forward for QSRs. Off-premise demand continues to rise, and staff benefit most when automation removes repetitive, time-consuming tasks without overhauling the kitchen.

The real advantage comes from choosing what to automate and how. The best systems work alongside employees: easing strain, boosting morale, and improving guest experiences both in-store and off-premise.

Future-focused QSRs will use automation to let people do what they do best while machines handle the rest.