Extremely Fast Food

The line of the day:

It's as if the great advances of human civilization, in everything from animal husbandry to mathematics to architecture to manufacturing to information technology, have all crescendoed with the Crunchwrap Supreme, delivered via the pick-up window.

That comes from a fascinating article in Bloomberg Businessweek about Taco Bell and the science of the drive-thru. With brutal efficiency, Taco Bell has lowered its average drive-through time -- from when you (not you specifically, of course -- you wouldn't eat there!) drive up with your mouth watering to when you drive away with your food and change, down to an average of an incredible 164 seconds. As one industry observer says, perhaps with a bit of exaggeration, "The most advanced operational thinking in the world is going on in the back of a QSR[Quick Serve Restaurant]." I particularly liked the description of the frenzied ballet the reporter observed on the line:

Franco and Alvarez are a precise and frighteningly fast team. Ten orders at a time are displayed on a screen above the line, five drive-thrus and five walk-ins. Franco is a blur of motion as she slips out wrapping paper and tortillas, stirs, scoops, and taps, then slides the items down the line while looking up at the screen. The top Food Champions have an ability to scan through the next five orders and identify those that require more preparation steps, such as Grilled Stuffed Burritos and Crunchwrap Supremes, and set those up before returning to simpler tacos and burritos. When Alvarez is bogged down, Franco slips around him and slides Crunchwrap Supremes into their boxes. For this adroit time management and manual dexterity, Taco Bell starts its workers at $8.50 an hour, $1.25 more than minimum wage.

Of course, it's all in the service of delivering a product which isn't exactly doing Americans' health any favors. The Crunchwrap Supreme may be the most complex of Taco Bell's offerings to prepare, but at a mere 540 calories, it's an amuse bouche compared to the Volcano Nachos, which weigh in at 980 calories and 60 grams of fat. And Taco Bell has a promotion touting "Fourthmeal: The meal between dinner and breakfast," an attempt to get us to cram more food down our gullets than those poor deprived peasants of the world who have to content themselves with a mere three meals a day. That doesn't take anything away, however, from what they've accomplished by being able to deliver it all to you in 164 seconds.