The Drive-Thru Trick Shake Shack Uses So Your Food Tastes Extra Fresh

Shake Shack is a fast casual burger chain that has built its reputation on having better quality than typical fast food, both by making everything fresh to order and using premium ingredients. To stay competitive in the post-pandemic world, the chain designed and launched its own drive-thru system, opening the first in December 2021. The trick Shake Shack uses to make sure your drive-thru order tastes extra fresh? Employees start making your food as soon as you order it, as opposed to dine-in, where they start after you pay. These extra few minutes allow the burger favorite to continue its practice of using fresh ingredients while offering the drive-thru convenience to customers.

Many fast food chains use heat lamps and other warming methods to precook food in batches, improving a drive-thru's efficiency — unless you have a large or complex order, in which case, employees will ask you to pull forward while they prepare it. According to an interview with The Wall Street Journal (via YouTube), Shake Shack had to figure out a way to still serve fresh, made-to-order meals in a drive-thru setting without overly long wait times. "We do things a little differently in our drive-thrus than we do in our restaurants," says Katie Fogerty, CFO at Shake Shack. "It's not compromising the cook fresh." In addition to getting a head start on preparing an order, the chain also implemented a special kitchen design to help it meet efficiency goals.

Part of the innovative drive-thru design for Shake Shack includes a split-kitchen setup where one is completely dedicated to drive-thru business. Since cooking fresh is something Shake Shack absolutely will not compromise on — which is part of why its prices are high for fast food — improving drive-thru speed has been a major priority over the last few years. 

Prior to launching drive-thrus, most of Shake Shack's business was dine-in, so speed of service hadn't always been a focus (per Restaurant Dive). "It is a tension that we battle every day, between speed and cook to order food," says Andrew McCaughan, the chief development officer at Shake Shack (per WSJ). "We can't compete on speed, because we want to cook our food in a certain way." 

If you are already a fan, there are several Shake Shack secrets you'll wish you knew sooner – like where the name comes from, or how to order a protein-style burger. The chain has even released a real-deal boneless rib sandwich as part of its Smoky BBQ menu, and based on our taste test, it sounds like you'll want to pick one up at your nearest Shake Shack drive-thru.