Case Study of the Week: Troubles in the Drive-Thru

Aug 25, 2025

Quick Serve Restaurant Management

You are to assume the role of a general manager for Better Burger, a fast food restaurant with two drive thru lanes. The district manager wants you to suggest methods to handle complaints about new technology in the drive thru.

The Better Burger you manage recently upgraded the point-of-sale technology in the drive thru lanes to be 100% generative AI. The management system uses AI knowledge based on data pulled from the Better Burger menu and can generate responses, adapt in real-time, and provide a personalized experience for each customer.

Unfortunately, there have challenges with the system. While 60% of orders are smooth, the system has problems interpreting different dialects, dealing with background noise, understanding special orders and when customers stop and restart an order. If the AI system cannot successfully confirm the order with the customer, an employee is notified and takes over. This has led to frustrated customers and delays in the drive thru lanes.

The district manager wants you to suggest methods to handle the customer complaints and make the drive thru experience better overall.

Questions?

Randi Bibiano
Competitive Events Specialist
randi@deca.org

Randi Bibiano is DECA's competitive events specialist. In this role, she conceptualizes and authors role-play scenarios for the collegiate and high school division’s competitive events programs. She also manages DECA's online competitive events and serves as a liaison to volunteer efforts at DECA's educational conferences.

Discussion Questions

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Classroom Connection

Career Cluster:

Hospitality and Tourism

Instructional Area(s):

Customer Relations

Performance Indicators:

Explain the nature of customer service in the hospitality and tourism industry
Determine strategies for resolving customer-service situations
Demonstrate a customer-service mindset
Handle customer/client complaints