I’ve done tons of these too when the price gets to my magic number. Since the program started 2+ years ago, I’ve noticed a visible change in service times — I do these as a route usually and I’d be stuck out until 1am because a string of them would take up to 40 minutes to get the food from getting into the drive through to pickup, particularly after the 9pm late night shift started. I also noticed a “special order” error rate of about 20-25 pct (usually no mayo when I asked for extra mayo, or extra ketchup instead of extra mayo).
I really do think this whole program started because enough people complained about this — I’ve ate at Jack on and off since I was a kid, and being the “late-night go to option”, the lines were always long in the evenings and it could be so sloooowww.
Within the last year, this has pretty much stopped happening... the worst I’ve had has been about 15 minutes, even with a full drive through. The special orders are usually correct now. They very much have a rhythm down, And I can only attribute this to the shopping — I also find they are very deliberate about reading back the items in the order when I get to the window and either sticking the receipt in the bag or handing it back with the card — this is certainly a change from “shove the bag in your face and throw the receipt away without asking” when you got your food.
As far as cleanliness, I tend to agree... I don’t see a lot of change, particularly with the dumpsters... the dumpsters are really the only main things I ding them on anyways. A lot of them do not have the dumpster in the enclosure — and I can only imagine it’s because the garbage company doesn’t want to wedge their truck into some of the spaces — they really have stuck the dumpster areas in tight places at some of them. I will say that the menu board quality has improved — I can say that I have submitted pics of broken menu boards, and weeks later they were fixed — and have seemed to stay fixed.
So overall, at least around here, the shopping does seem to have helped... it’s taken a while — but it isn’t as insanely slow as it used to be... that said... their prices are now outrageous. I never go there on my own anymore... the bare minimum combo here costs $9.12 after tax... with upgrading the drink, curly fries, and ordering a sandwich I’d actually want to eat, it’s easily $13-14 for a single combo now... which is just insane.