Shake Shack CEO reveals plan to fix drive-thru times after admitting it needs ‘better speed’ – and it may impact menus

SHAKE Shack has promised customers it will improve its drive-thru experience, but the move could affect menus.

The fast food chain only recently implemented a drive-thru experience at 35 locations nationwide.

It began bringing the experience to customers in 2020 through pick-up windows but implemented its first official drive-thru in 2021, per Restaurant Dive.

The drive-thrus expanded to about 30 Shake Shack restaurants in 2023 — up to 35 this year.

Still, CEO Rob Lynch said the brand has a long way to go before getting the experience to where they want it to be, per his comments during an earnings call on Thursday.

Lynch noted that Shake Shack has been working through the adjustments of being a chain predominantly focused on a dine-in experience with its positioning in larger areas like New York City.

Making order completion swift was less of a priority with that business model.

ADAPTING TO NEEDS

"Speed of service is always something we kind of talk about, but hasn't necessarily been a religion," the CEO said on the call.

"It's kind of fallen secondary to some of the innovations that we can deliver."

"And some of the way we make our products is more important," he added.

Lynch continued that with Shake Shack spreading out to states like Ohio, Georgia, Texas, and others, speed improvements have become necessary to compete with other restaurants.

"As we move forward, we're going to start making some strategic decisions on how we operate, the equipment we use, how we think about the kitchen in regards to making sure that we're delivering better speed," the CEO said.

Those decisions could result in some significant changes to the menu for customers soon.

BIG CHANGES

Shake Shack is eyeing drive-thru combo meals and scaling other offerings to better accommodate speed of service.

Lynch also noted that kitchens at locations with a drive-thru would be restructured for efficiency.

He cited drive-thrus for Shake Shack as having the potential to give a "huge unlock" to the brand that could bolster its sales.

Speed of service is always something we kind of talk about, but hasn't necessarily been a religion.

Shake Shack's second-quarter earnings for the year were already up 4%, but it has yet to see significant returns on the drive-thru investments.

While the financial benefits remain to be seen, the company is also cutting building costs by around 10% for new locations.

At least 80 are planned for 2024, per an earnings call from May.

PRICE PROBLEMS

Other fast food chains have seen some struggles over the past year, with complaints about pricing and certain menu items.

McDonald's customers have been particularly furious over the cost of some sandwiches and meal deals amid the company's promises of lower prices by the end of 2024.

Burger King also recently revealed that the price of a popular meal deal rose by at least $6 over the past two years.

An expert exclusively told The U.S. Sun there are at least five fast food trends increasing costs right now aside from inflation.