Pal's Sudden Service takes 30 seconds to receive and deliver drive-in takeaway orders
Not many people, including those living in the US have heard of Pal’s Sudden Service. I hadn’t, until very recently. Infact, on the surface, there’s nothing all that amazing about Pal’s. Thirty one locations concentrated within an 80-mile radius surrounding the northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia belt, with its home base in Kingsport, is not much to talk about nor is it a big deal as fast food networks go. How wrong can one be?
Founded in the 1950s by Fred "Pal" Barger, Pal's fast food is regarded by its industry peers as one of the best-run burger chains in a country. So much so, that it won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award one year – an award for business excellence that usually goes to luxury hotels, educational institutions and hospitals. It was the first time the award went to a fast food chain.
In August 2019, ‘Food & Wine’ magazine named Pal’s Sudden Service as the Best Fast Food available in the entire state of Tennessee and in that same year, the company snagged the second national recognition in the hospitality field when the ‘USA Today’ Reader’s poll voted it the 2nd Best Regional Fast Food chain in America.
Pal’s offers only takeaways. What then is Pal’s secret for achieving these accolades? The most obvious difference is its fanatical devotion to speed and accuracy. Customers pull up to a window, place their orders face-to-face with an employee, drive around to the other side of the facility, take their bag and drive off. All this happens at a lightning pace. It breaks down as an average of 18 seconds at the handout window to place an order and 12 seconds at the drive-up window to receive the order.
In terms of accuracy - what might be more enlightening is the case study conducted by Fast Company cofounder Bill Taylor is his 2016 book “Simply Brilliant.” He found Pal’s double-drive thru stations, despite getting guests across in under 30 seconds, made a mistake only once in every 3,600 orders. It’s a stat, from a high level performance that amply demonstrates Pal’s magical speed of service - “almost none (of the customers) bother to check their orders before they drive off,” Taylor wrote.
“If you are hungry for evidence that it is possible to do extraordinary things in some pretty ordinary settings - then pull into a Pal’s Sudden Service. Pal’s is 4-times faster at the drive-through than the second-fastest quick-serve restaurant in the country and it is 10-times more accurate than its nearest national competitor in order accuracy. That make’s Pal’s not just extraordinary, but a national treasure of customer service.”
In terms of revenue, Pal’s produce $2,500 in sales per square foot (many leading burger brands are closer to $650) - sure fire testimony to their incredible reputation for quality and excellence.
Burgers comprise the bulk of Pal's menu, hot dogs, topped with mustard, diced onions, and chili. They also do sandwiches on hamburger bun and fries, referred to as Frenchie Fries, The drink menu contains vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry shakes, sodas, cokes and iced teas, which one can zip up with peach or raspberry flavoring and yes, they have a very good breakfast offering.
Pal’s doesn’t suggestive sell or try to influence somebody’s ordering experience. It’s a quick, friendly interaction with a mountain of training behind it. Pal’s Triple 100 culture (100% execution 100% of the time, even when outlets are operating at 100% of capacity), takes some 120 hours of training before employees work on their own, and everybody needs to be certified in each role, including taking orders.
According to Taylor’s study, Pal’s also, on every day, uses a computer to randomly generate the names of two to four employees to be recertified in one of their jobs, like a pop quiz. The average employee receives two or three a month. If they fail, Pal’s retrains before they get assigned to that task again.
As brand president Thom Crosby told Taylor, “If people aren’t doing something right, that’s not a problem with them, it’s a problem with the training.”
Ilzaf Keefahs is a freelance writer who enjoys focusing on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. He delves into the heart of hospitality to figure out both customer service and consumer trends that impact the industry
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