Case Study of the Week: Risks vs Benefits of Drive-thrus

Sep 18, 2023

Restaurant and Food Service

You are the director of operations for Shake-A-Palooza, a chain of quick service restaurants that feature over 25 ingredients that can be combined to make custom milkshakes. Currently there are 100 Shake-A-Palooza locations. All 100 locations feature an order counter with menus featuring available ingredients with a small dining area.

Due to the custom nature of each shake, it takes Shake-A-Palooza employees approximately 3-5 minutes to create each milkshake. If a customer is creating their custom shake at the order counter, 1-2 minutes can be added to the time as customers choose their ingredients.

As executives plan 20 new Shake-A-Palooza locations to open in the next 18-months, they have asked you to consider the benefits and possible consequences of each new location having a drive-thru.

The president of Shake-A-Palooza wants to understand how adding drive-thrus to the 20 new locations could benefit the location, sales and the customers. The president also wants to understand the risks involved in adding the drive-thrus, including wait times and possible customer dissatisfaction.

The president wants you to make suggestions that would lessen any risks and still be competitive.

Questions?

Randi Bibiano
Competitive Events Specialist
randi@deca.org

Randi Bibiano is DECA's competitive events specialist. In this role, she conceptualizes and authors role-play scenarios for the collegiate and high school division’s competitive events programs. She also manages DECA's online competitive events and serves as a liaison to volunteer efforts at DECA's educational conferences.

Discussion Questions

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

Classroom Connection

Career CLuster:

Hospitality and Tourism

Instructional Area(s):

Economics

Performance Indicators:

Explain the concept of competition
Determine factors affecting business risk
Identify factors affecting a business’s profit
Identify factors affecting wait time