It was lunchtime and Rufus and I swing into the local Wendy’s, pulled into the drive-through lane and ordered a #2, no ketchup, pickles, tomato or onions and a vanilla frosty. Rufus likes the frosty and he gets the second burger patty. There were four cars ahead of us. Not bad for lunchtime.
When we were the third car in line, there was a stall of some sort with an order. The cars started piling up behind us and eventually, cars would pull into the lot and pull right around to go somewhere else. We had ordered, so we waited for about five minutes. The guy in front of us had had enough, so he just pulled out of line. A minute afterwards, our van was in gear and we were gone as well. I’m pretty sure all the orders got out of synch for the people behind us. But we had waited long enough.
As I was sitting there, I also counted 17 cars that pulled into the lot and right out the other side after noticing the long line. A quick calculation on an average of $8.00 per meal, over the course of one lunch hour, that long line probably cost Wendy’s about $1,300.00 in sales. I’m guessing.
Our advice: Never, never, never let a line form at the concession stand. If you did a quick survey, you will find people have the patience for three customers deep, but no more. They will approach the line with the intention of standing there to order something, but if more than three people are in it, they will keep walking and go somewhere else. You have lost that sale.
Try putting a greeter at the end of the line when it gets too long; someone who can take orders and money and radio orders to the back. You only really need this extra person during breakfast and lunch rushes. Do ANYTHING you can to prevent the line from forming.