Dan Heath

I could tell my wife to explain why I came home without the Chick-fil-A, but ultimately decided, OK, I'll put on my big boy pants and get in line. And what happened next completely flipped my emotions because this line was just steadily creeping forward. It was uncanny. It was almost like those automatic car washes you've probably been through where they just pull your car along.

I could tell my wife to explain why I came home without the Chick-fil-A, but ultimately decided, OK, I'll put on my big boy pants and get in line. And what happened next completely flipped my emotions because this line was just steadily creeping forward. It was uncanny. It was almost like those automatic car washes you've probably been through where they just pull your car along.

And I was totally fascinated by what they were doing. And I resolved. to figure it out. After I delivered dinner that night, it probably took me 10 or 15 minutes to get through a 50 car line. It blew my mind. So later I go back, I talked to the owner operator, a guy named Tony Fernandez. He tells me that their peak is processing over 400 cars in an hour. That's a car every nine seconds.

And I was totally fascinated by what they were doing. And I resolved. to figure it out. After I delivered dinner that night, it probably took me 10 or 15 minutes to get through a 50 car line. It blew my mind. So later I go back, I talked to the owner operator, a guy named Tony Fernandez. He tells me that their peak is processing over 400 cars in an hour. That's a car every nine seconds.

And I was totally fascinated by what they were doing. And I resolved. to figure it out. After I delivered dinner that night, it probably took me 10 or 15 minutes to get through a 50 car line. It blew my mind. So later I go back, I talked to the owner operator, a guy named Tony Fernandez. He tells me that their peak is processing over 400 cars in an hour. That's a car every nine seconds.

that is just not the way the world i mean you could put your kids through college before arby's would process 400 cars let's be honest so this is just a freakish level of performance and and so i i began talking to tony to try to understand how he'd gotten there And he had just this laser-sharp philosophy.

that is just not the way the world i mean you could put your kids through college before arby's would process 400 cars let's be honest so this is just a freakish level of performance and and so i i began talking to tony to try to understand how he'd gotten there And he had just this laser-sharp philosophy.

that is just not the way the world i mean you could put your kids through college before arby's would process 400 cars let's be honest so this is just a freakish level of performance and and so i i began talking to tony to try to understand how he'd gotten there And he had just this laser-sharp philosophy.

He said drive-through flow, which is what they're managing to, is all about finding the bottlenecks, managing the bottlenecks. Or the word I use in the book is constraint, but they're synonyms. What's the limiting force in the system? And so, for instance, in a lot of drive-throughs, the bottleneck will be the menu board, the little menu where you order food.

He said drive-through flow, which is what they're managing to, is all about finding the bottlenecks, managing the bottlenecks. Or the word I use in the book is constraint, but they're synonyms. What's the limiting force in the system? And so, for instance, in a lot of drive-throughs, the bottleneck will be the menu board, the little menu where you order food.

He said drive-through flow, which is what they're managing to, is all about finding the bottlenecks, managing the bottlenecks. Or the word I use in the book is constraint, but they're synonyms. What's the limiting force in the system? And so, for instance, in a lot of drive-throughs, the bottleneck will be the menu board, the little menu where you order food.

And there are some these days that have two lanes. Most of them still have one lane. And so if you get behind that one person that gets to the board and then they rolled on their window and it's, they're just dazzled by the array of choices in front of them.

And there are some these days that have two lanes. Most of them still have one lane. And so if you get behind that one person that gets to the board and then they rolled on their window and it's, they're just dazzled by the array of choices in front of them.

And there are some these days that have two lanes. Most of them still have one lane. And so if you get behind that one person that gets to the board and then they rolled on their window and it's, they're just dazzled by the array of choices in front of them.

And they take five minutes to decide, like that means your time in line went up by five minutes and the person behind you went up by five minutes and And so as an example, that's a constraint that Chick-fil-A, at least my local Chick-fil-A, said, well, what do we need a menu board for? I mean, it's nuggets and fries. Like, how hard is it? So they literally don't have a menu board anymore.

And they take five minutes to decide, like that means your time in line went up by five minutes and the person behind you went up by five minutes and And so as an example, that's a constraint that Chick-fil-A, at least my local Chick-fil-A, said, well, what do we need a menu board for? I mean, it's nuggets and fries. Like, how hard is it? So they literally don't have a menu board anymore.

And they take five minutes to decide, like that means your time in line went up by five minutes and the person behind you went up by five minutes and And so as an example, that's a constraint that Chick-fil-A, at least my local Chick-fil-A, said, well, what do we need a menu board for? I mean, it's nuggets and fries. Like, how hard is it? So they literally don't have a menu board anymore.

They might have five human beings in the parking lot at once taking orders right at your driver's side window. You've probably seen this before. They'll walk up with an iPad and what can I get you? I mean, imagine that five people dealing with orders at once. There's not a drive-thru on the planet that has five different menu board lanes.

They might have five human beings in the parking lot at once taking orders right at your driver's side window. You've probably seen this before. They'll walk up with an iPad and what can I get you? I mean, imagine that five people dealing with orders at once. There's not a drive-thru on the planet that has five different menu board lanes.

They might have five human beings in the parking lot at once taking orders right at your driver's side window. You've probably seen this before. They'll walk up with an iPad and what can I get you? I mean, imagine that five people dealing with orders at once. There's not a drive-thru on the planet that has five different menu board lanes.