Drive-thrus are an integral part of American life, yet Indians had never caught much of a fancy to the concept. Can the post-pandemic 'new normal' change that?
This week, Starbucks opened its first drive-thru in India, in a Chandigarh suburb. Calling it a 'milestone', Starbucks India CEO Navin Gurnaney said, “The opening of our first drive-thru showcases our commitment to evolving our brand and business.” For the multinational coffee chain that had seen its India revenue (the India venture is a collab with the Tatas) nosedive after lockdown, the new model it is trying out is equally a realisation of how reality has changed post-Covid as much as reiterating its continued interest in the Indian market. While the drive-thru at a plaza off the Chandigarh-Ambala highway is its first in the country, it is the 187th outlet overall.
For long, drive-thrus never really clicked with the Indian customer—there have been outlets in Ahmedabad, and possibly other places as well, as way back as the eighties. The main reason, of course, are two—India doesn't have the four-wheeler saturation that the US has, as also the fact that eating on the go has been a rather recent, and mainly big city, phenomenon in the country. “For every customer who comes in a car, we get more than 10 on bikes. It is a viable option for very limited locations and concepts,” noted Sunil Godithi, former CEO of Hyderabad's Three Tiny Bowls, on a bulletin board some time ago.
Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain McDonald's, which has used drive-thru as a significant part of its business model back in the US, has been trying hard to make the drive-thru concept click with Indians—its first drive-thru came up almost 20 years ago on the outskirts of Mumbai. But trends indicate that these places find more business from highway travellers who preferred to dine-in (McD has been smart enough to insure the drive-thru ventures by attaching seating areas and ample parking spaces to all of them) rather than those who drove-up, ordered and went off.
“Over the last 20 years (in India), drive-thrus have been a key driver for McDonald’s,” says the company on its blog. “In QSR industry, convenience is important. Not all days are the same. There are bad-weather days, don’t-have-no-time days, would rather eat-in-the-car days, buying-for-the-picnic days, my-friend-is-waiting-at-the-next-bus-stop days and so on. These are the days when ordering and picking up from the car makes a lot more sense than sitting at the restaurant.”
In recent years, other QSRs like KFC and Burger King had also opened drive-thrus in India (Delhi's Dhaula Kuan metro station famously has an array of restaurants with drive-thru options at the arterial intersection), but the inadvertent push might just finally come thanks to Covid and the many social distancing guidelines that have been put in place for restaurants. Many restaurants still offer only takeaways or home deliveries, and with distancing norms likely to be around for at least quite a few months, restaurants have finally started looking at this model seriously, as evidenced by the likes of Starbucks getting into the space. McDonald's itself announced that it has added 'drive-thru' lanes at 17 of its outlets in Gurugram, Noida and nearby areas after they reopened after the lockdown.
Of course, trust India to add its own unique twist. Nukkadwala, a drive-thru chain, gives the option of calling and placing your order in advance and then going to pick it up, or wait for it to be delivered to your car in a nearby spot. Godithi sums it up succinctly, “Been to a popular street side chat or kebab or biryani joint late at night (where) server boys come running out to take your order and get whatever you want? Isn't that a drive-thru? Who says drive-thru has to be designed only western style?”
