Patent ID: 7895797

Claim:
A vehicular drive-thru food ordering and delivering system comprising; a lot having a vehicular ingress and vehicular egress thereto; a building for receiving and filling drive-thru customer orders for delivery to customers, the building having a primary food delivery window for passing food orders through the primary food delivery window to a drive-thru customer; a vehicular drive-thru lane situated on the lot and passing adjacent to the primary food delivery window, the vehicular drive-thru lane accessible from the lot vehicular ingress and having access to the lot vehicular egress; at least one order station located remote from the building and along the vehicular drive-thru lane and upstream of the primary food delivery window; an in-line vehicle waiting area located in the vehicular drive-thru lane a distance downstream of the primary food delivery window so that a vehicle may enter the in-line vehicle waiting area by driving downstream from the primary food delivery window without exiting from the vehicular drive-thru lane, the in-line vehicle waiting area including one or more in-line vehicle waiting spaces in which a vehicle can await delivery of a delayed order, said distance being sufficient to allow an upstream vehicle leaving the primary food delivery window to drive forward and around a downstream vehicle waiting at the in-line vehicle waiting area and to the vehicle egress without backing up; an attendant runway downstream of the primary food delivery window, at least a portion of the attendant runway positioned in an area outside the building and adjacent to the in-line vehicle waiting area to provide at least a portion of a path from the primary food delivery window to a vehicle waiting in the in-line vehicle waiting area without requiring an attendant to cross over the vehicular drive-thru lane; a building egress proximate to the primary food delivery window for providing attendant access from the primary food delivery window to the portion of the attendant runway that is outside the building to deliver an order to a vehicle waiting in the in-line vehicle waiting area; and a second vehicle lane positioned along at least a portion of the vehicular drive-thru lane adjacent the in-line vehicle waiting area and being of sufficient length and width to allow a vehicle leaving the primary food delivery window to drive forward and past a downstream vehicle waiting in the in-line vehicle waiting area without having to back up and to thereafter proceed to the lot vehicular egress via the second vehicle lane.