Economy has upside for fast-food diners

Bigger labor pool means better, more accurate workers

It's the bane of many a fast-food lover's existence: the drive-through clerk who doesn't get the right food in the right bag.

The good news is that the bad economy is actually allowing fast-food restaurants to be more selective in hiring, and that means they're getting your drive-through order right more often, experts say.

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Drive-through service should be more reliable, experts say, now that restaurants are able to pick more-qualified workers.
(AP)

"When times are tough, people are willing to take jobs for which they're over-qualified," says Bob Sandelman, a fast-food researcher.

Burger King's Deborah Martin agrees. "With a larger labor pool of applicants to choose from, we are able to more efficiently fill positions with qualified candidates," says Martin.

For the fast-food world, order accuracy is a nagging problem. At drive-throughs, botched orders are the No. 1 problem, says Sherri Daye Scott, editor at QSR Magazine, which does an annual ranking on order accuracy.

Gannett News Service