Drive-Thru Culture Soon To Hit China – In More Ways Than One

A video satirizing the use of call centers in drive-thrus has recently been doing the rounds via YouTube:

Take one: a man pulls up to a Burger King drive-thru and asks for a value meal number two, without onions. An American voice through the intercom asks: “is that a value meal number five, with onions?” The man in the car struggles to get his order understood.

Take two: the same man pulls up to the drive-thru. An Indian voice welcomes him. The man is incredulous: “What – did Burger King outsource its call center to…?”

“To India, sir. And just the order taking is outsourced. Your order will still be filled by a higher priced and lazier American,” says the Indian voice.

Take three: the man pulls up to the drive-thru. A clipped automated female voice responds, informing him that orders are received through voice recognition software. The man is bemused. “What happened to the call centers in India…?”

“India outsourced its call center to China. China uses technology instead of human workers. It eliminates mistakes and keeps Burger King prices low.” He makes his order: a value meal number two, without onions. She responds: “You said you would like a value meal number five with onions, is this correct?”

The sketch is in reponse to a move made by a number of fast-food restaurants to use call-center operators, rather than employees inside the restaurant, to take the orders at drive-thrus.

As The Boston Globe’s Jenn Abelson reported last week, Wendy’s restaurants are currently test-driving the concept, while

Other companies, including Burger King, Panda Express and McDonald's, have also started routing drive-thru calls to remote locations to get faster and more accurate orders and let in-store employees concentrate on making food, keeping the store clean and ringing up sales.

While Wendy’s drive-thru call center is domestically located, in Nashua, North Hampshire, the YouTube video probably isn’t far off in identifying the outsourcing business that could soon be heading to call centers in India and China (although admittedly, the automated voice could be somewhat of an exaggeration.)

A recent report in The Financial Times, however, has suggested that McDonald’s also has hopes that Chinese will soon be making orders on the other side of drive-thru intercoms.

Geoff Dyer reported that in an attempt to push further into the Chinese market and elbow its rival, KFC, out of the way, McDonald’s has added drive-thrus to the plans for 50% of its new restaurants in China.

It’s a bullish move by McDonald’s, based on the bet that the country’s rapidly growing car sector will change Chinese lifestyle and culture. According to Dyer:

Levels of car ownership are still low at less than 2 per cent of the population. But the scale of the country means that China is likely to overtake Japan this year to become the second-biggest car market in the world. And executives see no signs of car sales slowing any time soon.

McDonald’s gamble, however, is a risk about which other multinational players, including McDonald’s main rival, have been less enthusiastic:

KFC has opened four outlets [equipped with drive-thrus], but it says the market is not ready for an aggressive expansion. Retailers such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart say it is essential to find store locations near to public transport because few shoppers are willing or able to drive.

Its still early days, but whether its placing or taking the order, it looks like the drive-thru culture could soon be heading to China.