Drive-thru windows have made a massive comeback, and—much like Zoom, remote work, and grocery delivery services—they show no signs of retreating in popularity in the post-pandemic world. The move toward drive-thrus has proven to be a sustained shift in consumer behavior, so naturally, the government has stepped in to do what it does best: regulate, restrict, and ban.
Last year, The New York Times reported on the post-pandemic durability of drive-thrus, noting that their traffic increased by 30 percent from 2019 to 2022, showing that Americans preferred staying in their cars even after the public health emergency began to wane. It's unremarkable that drive-thrus accounted for 70 percent of fast-service restaurant sales during the time of social distancing rules, but even with the public health emergency in the rearview mirror, two-thirds of fast-food transactions still happen in the drive-thru lane.
