From the Inside Out

If you are a Lethal Weapon fan, you probably remember the drive thru scene with Leo Getz. He uses some colorful language to describe why you always get the wrong order at the drive thru. If you can overlook the language, it’s a hilarious scene that also holds some truth. By the time you figure out they gave you the wrong order, you’re too far away to go back and get it fixed — you’re just screwed.

If you want to reduce your odds of having a bad experience, you might want to frequent the best drive thru’s in America as determined by Insula Research’s annual Drive-Thru Performance Study. This ranking of the top 20 fast food drive thru’s in America measures their performance in four categories: order accuracy, speaker clarity, speed, and best menu board.

And the results are:

1. Chick-fil-A
2. Taco Bell
3. Del Taco
4. Krystal
5. Wendy’s

Chick-fil-A earned the highest composite score in the survey, topping the competition in two of the four categories: order accuracy and speaker clarity. Chick-fil-A also had the friendliest service measured by demeanor, politeness, and eye contact. Wendy’s ranked number one in the “Speed” category, and Whataburger won top honors for the best menu board.

To read the full results, check out the article in this month’s QSR Magazine .

Have you ever stood in front of a menu at a fast food restaurant and wished you could get something else? According to Mental Floss, fast food restaurants across the country have many secret items that aren’t advertised on their menus. You just have to know to ask for them. I find this fascinating, and I can’t wait to try it out!

Here are the ones I think are the most interesting:

1. Jamba Juice has secret candy-inspired smoothies including white gummy bear, starbursts, fruity pebbles and PB&J.
2. Wendy’s offers a “meat cube” or “grand slam” consisting of four meat patties stacked on a bun.
3. Starbucks will give you a “short” coffee if their smallest size (tall) is too big for you.
4. Chipotle and Taco Bell will make almost anything as long as they have the ingredients for it. Taco Bell is also rumored to have a yummy green chili sauce at most locations, but you won’t find it on the menu.
5. McDonalds will give you a Neapolitan mikshake — chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry layered in a cup.
6. In-N-Out Burger offers “protein style” burgers wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. They also let you order any combo of meat and cheese. For example, if you want 3 beef patties and 3 slices of cheese, order a 3 x 3. Finally, there’s the Flying Dutchman: two slices of cheese between two patties — no bun.

Do you know of others? If so, share them by commenting below. For the Mental Floss Top 10 list, click here.