This story appears in the
February 2000 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Perhaps the busiest time of day for a fast-food establishment is
lunch. Customer after hungry customer rolls up to a drive-thru
window expecting a complete meal within minutes.
Ordinarily, when pur-chasing a Subway sandwich, a customer walks
in, places an order and watches as it's prepared. Figuring a
traditional drive-thru would only create confusion, Subway
franchisee Michael Murphy, 43, invented a window that lets
customers view the sandwich-making process right from the comfort
of their cars.
"It's an improvement over the old-fashioned drive-thru
window so many stores have," says Murphy, who opened his first
franchise in Granite Falls, Minnesota, in 1993. "With my
invention, customers drive their cars up to a large picture window
and look through it at the food and the preparation table. They can
see the menu and talk to the employees."
After experimentation, Murphy found the right angle and height
to make viewing the process easy.
The idea came to Murphy in 1994 on a road trip with his wife.
After going through a drive-thru and discussing the need for one in
their store, he drew a sketch on a notepad and presented it to a
patent attorney and his Subway development agent. Five years later,
he received the patent for his invention. His second store with the
new drive-thru window was completed in Montevideo, Minnesota, in
1997. The window, claims Murphy, has brought in almost one-half of
his customers. Subway Corp. is evaluating the window's
potential and discussing whether it'll be used at other
locations.
Contact Source
Subway Corp.,(203) 876-6674, ext.1683, german_c@subway.com.