Andy Turner is a senior at AMHS who recently completed his thesis on improving the speed of service of the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A restaurants. From his research he found that while using iPads during face-to-face serving times the speed of service was improved and more cars were pushed through the drive-thru lane. Below, Andy gives us more information about her thesis and advice to juniors who are just beginning their theses.

Tell us about your topic:

My thesis focused on shortening the time the customer waited in the drive thru line. I compared the wait times before iPads were in use to the times we used  iPads and found improvements in many areas.

What brought you to this topic?

Well, it’s my job to serve customers at Chick-fil-A as quickly as possible, so I was pretty much completing my thesis while doing my job.

Who was your mentor?

My mentor was Clayton DeMooney who is a manager at Chick-fil-A where I work. We were already close before the thesis process began so I felt comfortable having him as my mentor. He was able to offer helpful information and guidance with no awkward meet ups or situations because we were already acquainted.

What advice would you give to juniors beginning their thesis?

The best advice I can give to juniors beginning their thesis is to pick a topic that interests you. Thesis will be so much easier if you enjoy working on it. Don’t just pick a topic because it is easy.

What would you have done differently with your thesis if you could?

I would have done more work over the summer. I could have analyzed more data and had more accurate data if I collected for a longer amount of time.

What was your guiding question and what did you find from your research?

The central goal of my thesis was to improve the speed of service of the Chick-fil-A drive through. My main question was whether this could be completed by using iPads during face-to-face serving times. I found that using iPads improved the serving times and provided a more personal experience for guests. On the 3 days that I collected data, the speed of service improved by 82-175 seconds from using iPads and face-to-face service.