Busy lives require efficient options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In Kansas City, which is still overwhelmingly a car town, drive-thru restaurants are a staple of the dining scene.
When the automobile became popular a century ago, the drive-in restaurant allowed diners to stay in their cars to eat, with carhops bringing your order right to your vehicle.
The concept of the drive-thru speedily followed, with the first such endeavor — Red’s Giant Hamburg — opening in Springfield, Missouri, in 1947. The idea that you could order, pay, pick up your meal and be on your way in a matter of minutes, no planning needed, transformed the restaurant industry…