Sam Hartman owns three Chick-fil-A franchises in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. After spending decades in the biz, he sat down next to his colleague, HR leader Nicholas Lawrence, for an interview by local Hoosier Nate Spangle, who hosts the Get IN. podcast. If you’ve ever been astonished at how quickly you can get through the company’s drive-thru, even when the parking lot’s loaded with cars, wonder no more. These tactics are on point, for sure. But the optimization never stops, either.

How are Chick-fil-A drive-thrus so fast?

Chick-fil-A’s drive-thru isn’t just fast by accident. According to Hartman and Lawrence, it’s the result of careful planning, constant measurement, and even the placement of ketchup packets.

One big breakthrough is “upstream ordering”

Instead of waiting for the speaker box, staff with iPads take orders from drivers earlier in the line. Mobile ordering adds another layer, letting some customers zip through in as little as two minutes.

But leaders stress that speed is more than just tech. It’s about how teams work together in the moment.

The key metric is what they call “departure rate”

The goal is to have a car leave the window every 18 seconds, no matter how long the line is.

To hit that, teams track every part of the process: production times, bagging times, and how quickly food leaves the kitchen. Stores can have 50 employees working at once, with leaders coaching like pit crew chiefs.

There’s also outside help.

Chick-fil-A’s support center in Atlanta has consultants who review drive-thru video

They’ll suggest micro-adjustments, like moving a ketchup station a couple of feet to cut wasted steps. A shift like that might save less than a second, but across 170 cars in an hour, it adds up to real time.

Company leaders say culture makes the system work

They want even the youngest team members to see how tiny details matter. If the customer wins, they explain, the team wins too. And when everyone plays to win together, those seconds shaved off the clock add up to a Chick-fil-A drive-thru experience that feels almost effortless.

Nate Spangle’s full interview has a lot more about running a Chick-fil-A franchise. You can watch it here: