Fast - food for thought franchises have made thrust - through windows as much a part of their line programme as beefburger , fries , and handshaking . Companies likeMcDonald’s , Burger King , Wendy ’s , and dozens of others use speakers and sliding sectionalization to keep customers fueled on the go .
But in the case of McDonald ’s , the very first drive - through was n’t really for civilians . It was tosolvea logistical trouble involving members of the military .
According toAZCentral.com , the company debut its first railcar - favorable window on January 24 , 1975 , in Sierra Vista , Arizona . While some smaller nutrient chain had adopted the strategy , the Golden Arches look at takeout and dine - in to be its primary example .
That change when Sierra Vista franchisee David Rich realized his location was losing a spate of business organisation owing to a military policy . His McDonald ’s was turn up two miles from Fort Huachuca , but penis of the armed forces could n’t grab a burger . At the meter , the stand ’s protocol mandated that the enlist should never appear in uniform while in public .
Rich ’s solution was simple . He extended a wall , enter a windowpane , and stationed an employee nearby to cover orders from cars that pulled up to the side of the building . That way , officer could get food for thought while stay in their vehicle and without violating any principle . The understructure ’s post commandant and his daughter were the first take - through customers .
It ’s deserving observe that while Rich was the first to implement the window , he was n’t the first McDonald ’s wheeler dealer to recall of it . In 1974 , an Oklahoma City , Oklahoma placement receive corporate approval to design and manufacture an elaborate thrust - through with character statue — but it did n’t clear until April 1975 , a few months after Rich ’s window .
By the close of the 1970s , over one-half of the society ’s 5000 locations had driving - throughs . Today , it ’s almost impossible to find a McDonald ’s without one unless it ’s in a engorged urban location .
As for the pioneering Sierra Vista locating : It was torn down in 1999 and rebuild as a unexampled McDonald ’s . piece of the original place were auctioned , and the original private road - through partition is now ondisplayat the Ethel H. Berger Center in town .
[ h / tAZCentral.com ]
