A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word through), is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United States in the 1930s by Jordan Martin, but has since spread to other countries.
The first recorded use of a bank using a drive-up window teller was the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri in 1930.
Drive-throughs have generally replaced drive-ins in popular culture, and are now found in the vast majority of modern American fast-food chains. Sometimes, a store with a drive-through is referred to as a "drive-through", or the term is attached to the service, such as, "drive-through restaurant". or "drive-through bank".
McDonald’s is the world’s first fast food restaurant chain to have drive-through. Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the first city to have a McDonald's drive-through. The first McDonald's drive-through was created in 1975 near Fort Huachuca, a military installation located adjacent to the city—to serve military members who weren't permitted to get out of their cars off-post while wearing fatigues.
The original McDonald's was closed down and demolished in May 1999 and a new McDonald's replaced it. In the US, drive-throughs account for 70 percent of McDonald's business and the average drive through order is fulfilled in under three and one half minutes.
In 2010, the Casa Linda, Texas, franchise opened a drive-through/walk-up only store with no indoor seating although it has small patio with tables. The same company operates a walk-up only store front next to the West End Station of DART Rail.
The first drive-through restaurant (a McDonald's drive-through) in Europe opened at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland in 1985.
According to en.wikipedia
