Drive-Ins and Drive-Thrus

Carhops and curb service

As cars spread across America in the 1920s, restaurants began serving drivers in parking lots. Carhops, often on roller skates in later decades, took orders and brought trays that hooked onto car windows. Drive-ins became teenage hangouts in the 1950s, with music and neon signs.

The first drive-thrus

Red's Giant Hamburg on Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri, is often credited with one of the first drive-thru windows in 1947. In 1948 In-N-Out Burger in Baldwin Park, California, let drivers order through a two-way speaker box. Wendy's opened its pick-up window in 1970, and McDonald's added its first drive-thru in Arizona in 1975.

The drive-thru made fast food truly fast: no parking, no walking in, and food handed out of a window.

Sonic keeps the drive-in alive

Sonic began as the Top Hat Drive-In in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 1953, and took the Sonic name in 1959 with the promise of service at the speed of sound. Customers park in covered stalls, order through an intercom and carhops still bring food to the car.

The modern lane

Today, for many US chains, most orders go through the drive-thru, and companies obsess over seconds of service time. Double lanes, mobile order pick-up lanes and digital menu boards are the latest steps. During the pandemic years, drive-thrus became even more important as dining rooms closed.

Inside a modern drive-thru

Today's drive-thru is a carefully engineered system. Timers track how long each car spends at the speaker and window. Headsets connect order takers to the kitchen, and screens show staff what is coming. Some chains test automated voice ordering and conveyor systems that deliver food from a kitchen above the lane. The aim is always the same: get the right order into the car as fast as possible.

Did you know? Sonic is one of the few big chains where most customers still eat in their cars, and its carhops have competed in skating contests. Classic drive-in theatres and diners in the US have become popular nostalgia stops on road trips, especially along historic Route 66.

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