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From what I read a couple months ago, a franchisee in some midwestern state (Kansas?) set up a sort of "call center" for his McDonald's stores, so that instead of having drive-thru customers talk with someone onsite, they were patched through to a small office of order-taking specialists offsite. A franchisee in another state liked the idea and contracted order-taking to the franchisee who set this up.
It sounds like a good idea to me. Pooling resources for several restaurants should allow better utilization of the order takers, particularly if the call center covered multiple time zones to smooth out the peak ordering periods (e.g. noon). Specialization and focus (not having to count change and pour drinks while talking) should lead to better service. In theory anyway...McD's is famous for experimenting, and allowing franchises to experiment...if it makes sense, it will spread.
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