Forming and Opportunity Belief

A) My belief or superstition is that the mainstream fast food drive thru experience is outdated, and that through technology restaurants can speed up service times.

B)My belief is that technology such as touch screens, will eliminate the complicated communication between drive thru worker, and customer. For instance, we've all had the order that was wrong. Or we've had to wait for the cashier to reopen the window just to ask for that extra sauce packet we feel they deprived us of. The unmet need is that societies' current drive thru experience causes confusion and can often lead to dissatisfaction amongst customers. This need is for any body who eats fast food, specially the younger generation because studies show they typically eat the most fast food. Also, mother's with a van full of children who's best bet would be to go through the drive thru instead of taking all their kids inside with them. Fast food store operators and workers need better efficiency so this benefits them as well. It benefits the company by keeping them up to date with other societal needs in terms of efficiency. Currently, companies such as Chick-Fil-A have workers outside with iPads taking orders which is almost close enough, however, it's basically the same thing as having two drive thru lines. It just speeds up the payment process, which is great for the company, but not drastically better for the consumer. Also, McDonald's displays the self-ordering touch screen station inside their restaurant. The same idea can easily be applied to drive thru and would allow the customer to customize their orders to their needs, as well as type in any special request that the cooks can then make for them. Also, the idea of a double lane drive thru is a fairly new idea as well, so that two as further advanced the fast food experience. As of right now i'm 75% sure that this need is in fact needed and that it can also be implemented.

Ci) Prototypical customer 1: Skylar Freeman
Skylar is a coworker of mine who is very persistent when making sure her order is correct. She's called corporate on managers before, and has even gotten $8.66 refunded to her front door because of her order being unsatisfied. My first question was what was her worst drive thru experience to date. She answered that she just recently, had a order that was totally wrong due to miscommunication on the companies' end. She then called the store to see if there was anything they could do to which a manager laughed and said "Boy you sure love to complain". I then asked her how much was customer service when it came to eating fast food to which she responded, "Very". Unfortunately she also told me, she will never go back to that specific store because of her most recent interaction with a manager. She mentioned how it "sucks" that the nearest store other then that one is too far to go for her lunch breaks, the time she eats there the most, and how one person's attitude can make you think twice before supporting people like that. She also mentioned how she came to the decision to choose to call instead of going in or back through the drive thru. "Well one, I was on my lunch break, so I was already crunched for time. Also, that place gets PACKED during lunch hours so I was not about to waste my time, off the clock, for a matter that can be easily fixed over the phone. I've seen it done before"

Cii) Prototypical customer 2: Hector Romero
I used to work at Chick-Fil-A with Hector back when I was in high school. He used to be a chef and has been in a kitchen for the majority of his life. He has over 20 years in the food industry and was our store's kitchen manager. He concerned everything from food safety to procedures, and also stressed efficiency. I asked him the billion dollar question "Why does Chick-Fil-A get so busy, especially on Saturdays" to which he responded, "It has a lot to do with how good your back of house team (those in the kitchen) is and also how well your drive-thru team is at getting orders out, but also doing them correctly". He then reminded me that the desired speed of service time is under 2 minutes max, and that includes the food being in the hands of the customer in that time. I also asked him how effective the iPad setup Chick-Fil-A currently uses is compared to the days before. "Honestly they speed up the payment process which allows the consumer to then get the food and go, but there's still hiccups that do occur. For instance, if someone's card is not working, they hold up the line. Or if it's raining we can't have workers out there regardless. So even then, the whole thing isn't full proof". I asked him the total estimation as to how many orders they have gotten wrong and also how much they've lost financially because of it. He stated, " Although I can't disclose the exact amount, I do know that at Chick-Fil-A we pride ourselves on order accuracy. It does happen unfortunately and we try to do right by our customers by offering meal coverage or coupons for their bad experience. However, we also know that some customers take advantage of Chick-Fil-A's kindness and can stretch out the exact value of their meal for the price of maybe half of what they get. Our numbers probably don't represent the right dollar amount for everything on our end."

Ciii) Prototypical Customer 3: Allyson Dodd
Allyson is a close friend of mine. She's that one person who's got all the apps and all the reward memberships with all her favorite stores and places to eat. I asked her how often she uses the apps to which she mentioned she tries to use them every-time she goes to one of the places that offer, and also stated that it isn't hard because she often goes in with the mindset that she's going to use the app. She also told me she has apps such as Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Nike, and also McDonald's. How often do you get rewards I asked to which she mentioned that all apps are different. "For instance, Chick-Fil-A offers points I can earn every time I order and then redeem for a meal. Starbucks allows me to pay through the app, earn points and earn either a beverage or even somethings like a cup. Nike allows me to earn discounts every time I scan my app at checkout."

D) Through Skylar, I learned that customer service is still a big deal breaker for many customers. My belief however, removes an additional employee from the current method so ultimately, customer service would decline. Is this good or bad? I think it depends on the person ordering to be honest. For instance, customers still have the opportunity to get customer service by going inside. This would ideally separate the two types of customers and will inevitably speed up the drive thru- if only it was that easy. I also learned through Skylar, that humans still make mistakes in this day and age. It's inevitable. By having a touch screen drive thru, it eliminates possibility for human error as far as transmission of the customer's order. Through Hector, I learned that companies do lose out on messed up orders and that it happens more than they'd like it to. This keeps the door open for my idea because it fixes a problem they have and also costs them financially. Lastly, Allyson highlights the potential of the future when it comes to fast food. The apps and rewards programs shows that businesses are headed towards a more advanced and evolved way of dealing with customers outside the store. So why not advance customer interaction at the store. Through the interview I learned that my idea still has a chance, but it definitely requires changes. For instance, Hector mentioned rained and thats something my belief would also have to combat. I also liked the idea that Starbucks allows payment through the app, and maybe thats something we could implement into our drive thru experience that would enhance speed.

E) I would say a large majority of my original idea is still there. The idea that I would like to speed up drive thrus by use of touch screen ordering is still there. Its just how my machines would work under heavy usage, weather, and updating that I originally did not factor into my thought process. I don't know that my end is more accurate than my beginning. I would argue that its more precise being that it identified obstacles and also drew on customer data to better itself for the day it may find itself in use. I think entrepreneurs struggle with the trade off between staying firm and adapting based off of how much they thought of themselves when thinking of their opportunity. For instance, I hope to never find myself back at another fast food chain in my life so, this opportunity doesn't really effect me personally and that may be the reason i'm willing to adapt and conform. After all, i'm looking for ways to better society's drive thru. However, people such as Elon Musk and his billion dollar company Tesla is totally different. His reputation is all over Tesla's DNA. When he broke the cybertruck's window, people laughed at both the truck and Elon. He's out to better the world but also his image as an inventor. Ultimately I would like to think of a way to revolutionize the way we think of fast food. After all, the idea fast food revolutionized the way we originally thought of food.