Drive-thru staffing: which positions a rush needs

Plan three to four people on the lane side for a single-lane drive-thru rush: an order taker on the headset, a cashier, a presenter at the pickup window and an expo who builds the bags. Add a runner when cars start pulling forward to wait. A second order point needs a second order taker, or one person taking orders in the line on a tablet.

These line-ups are our starting points, and your menu and building will change them. This guide describes each position, sets out line-ups by lane layout, and gives you a sheet for planning each 15 minutes of a rush. Staffing models for the speaker itself (in-store, remote or AI) are covered in our guide to remote drive-thru order taking.

What does each drive-thru position do?

Position	Job during a rush	Can double with	Split it out when
Order taker	Greets, takes the order on the headset, reads it back, gives the total	Drinks, or the cashier job at a one-window store	A car is waiting behind the speaker most of the time
Line order taker	Walks the line with a tablet and takes orders before cars reach the speaker	Runner	The line backs up past the menu board and the POS supports handheld ordering
Cashier	Takes payment, scans loyalty codes, fixes errors on the ticket	Presenter at a one-window store, or order taker	Cars wait at the pay window while the pickup window is free
Presenter	Checks the bag against the ticket and the car, hands out food, says goodbye	Cashier	Cars wait at the pickup window with payment done
Expo	Builds bags and drink trays, calls for missing items, stages app orders	Presenter, or drinks	Food sits on the pass while the presenter hunts for sauces and drinks
Runner	Takes food to cars in waiting spaces, restocks bags, cups and sauces	Line order taker	Several cars an hour are pulled forward to wait

Chick-fil-A uses line order takers. In the 2025 QSR Drive-Thru Report, the company said it was refining face-to-face ordering by placing employees with tablets further out in the line, to ease capacity and cut wait times.

How many people does each lane layout need?

Counts below are for the lane side only. The kitchen crew is planned separately. Our dual-lane guide explains each layout.

Layout	Quiet hour	Rush
Single lane, one window	1: takes orders, cashes and presents	3: order taker, window (cash and present), expo
Single lane, pay and pickup windows	2: order taker who also cashes, presenter	4: order taker, cashier, presenter, expo; add a runner if cars are pulled forward
Y-lane: two order points, one set of windows	2: one order taker switching lanes on the headset, one at the windows	5: two order takers (or one plus a line tablet), cashier, presenter, expo
Added order-ahead lane	No change at the speaker	Expo stages app orders by pickup time; a runner covers any separate pickup point
AI order-taker at the speaker	Someone on the headset ready to take over	The same, and that person can pour drinks or expo between orders

How do you know which position to add next?

Watch where cars wait during your busiest 15 minutes. The station with a queue in front of it while the next station sits idle is the one short of hands.

1. Cars stacked behind the speaker, windows idle: add a second order taker or a line tablet.
2. Cars waiting at the pay window: split the cashier from the order taker.
3. Cars waiting at the pickup window after paying: add an expo, or move drinks off the presenter.
4. Several pull-forwards in each 15 minutes: add a runner so the presenter stays at the window.
5. Windows waiting on food: the kitchen is short, and more people at the window will not help.

A timer or a hand count shows this in numbers. Our drive-thru timer guide has a worksheet, and our guide to speeding up a drive-thru lists fixes by stage that do not need another person.

What does a staffing sheet look like?

Plan the rush in 15-minute blocks. For the car count, average the same block on the last four of the same weekday from your timer or POS. The rows below are a made-up single lane with pay and pickup windows.

Block	Cars expected	Order taker	Cashier	Presenter	Expo	Runner	Lane crew
11:15	7	Ana (also cashes)		Ben			2
11:30	10	Ana	Cal	Ben			3
11:45	13	Ana	Cal	Ben	Dee		4
12:00	15	Ana	Cal	Ben	Dee	Eli	5
12:15	14	Ana	Cal	Ben	Dee	Eli	5
12:30	11	Ana	Cal	Ben	Dee		4

Add two columns of your own: who covers breaks, and who steps in if a position is left empty. Write the doubling rule on the sheet too, such as "Cal takes drinks when Dee is on break."

What does a drive-thru position cost per hour?

Use your own payroll rate if you have it. For a national figure, the Bureau of Labor Statistics average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees at limited-service restaurants was $17.25 in June 2026. The July figure, which BLS marks preliminary, was $17.19. These are national averages across all nonsupervisory jobs in that industry, and they leave out benefits and the employer's payroll taxes.

A worked example at the June 2026 figure: a lane crew of four for one hour costs 4 times $17.25, or $69.00. At 50 cars that hour, that is about $1.38 of lane labor per car. At 45 cars, it is about $1.53. Adding a runner for a two-hour rush costs $34.50 a day, or $241.50 over a seven-day week, before taxes and benefits.

Weigh that against what the runner changes. If pull-forwards were keeping the presenter away from the window, count cars per hour and pull-forward waits for a week with the runner and a week without.

Can an AI order-taker cover a position?

It can cover the speaker, and someone still has to be ready to take over. Taco Bell's chief digital and technology officer told QSR, in the same 2025 report, that automating order taking frees employees for more time with guests.

Maple's drive-thru page lists one less person tied to the speaker during the rush among the reasons restaurants use its unit, which is in early access with a small number of restaurants. The unit stands beside the existing speaker post, writes orders into the POS, and has a one-press switch that returns the lane to the crew. Plan who listens on the headset and who takes over, then test it with the pilot checklist.

Published by Maple, which sells phone ordering and an early-access drive-thru unit. This AI-assisted guide combines Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and the 2025 QSR Drive-Thru Report with original position tables and a staffing sheet. The line-ups are our suggestions and the sheet is made up. It does not report a Maple staffing study or promise any labor saving.