You seek to get a hamburger in front of you by talking to somebody who is thousands of miles away overseas. That is the case of three “drive through” here in Hawaii.

Last January some local drive throughs inf Hawaii sought help from a call center in the Philippines, they were from Pearl City, Kapahulu and Kaneohe.

Whilst other fast food chains have tried and abandoned the use of remote ordering a few years ago like for example, McDonalds. They said while the program improved accuracy of orders and accountability, it slowed up their services so that is why they cut it out. McDonald’s instead turned to Texas for its primary project.

In the past, 62 % of the golden arch drive throughs who tried outsourcing to call centers had eventually discontinued.

But that is not the case with the Jack in the Box franchise on Oahu and Maui; it pretty worked out well to them and even expanded its services to 21 stores. Customers will have to be placing orders at the window but surprisingly talking to someone in the Philippines.

Moving in the Philippines is the first for the Jack in the Box outlets. Donna Yano said that the demographics in Hawaii really fit well with their call center in Manila so it works pretty much in harmony. It even improved efficiencies and customer satisfaction close to their goal as a business establishment. It flips back and forth with the capability of a 24 hour a day services.

Customers are surprised to learn that they were taking orders half way across the globe. Sometimes the customer would notice something different but cannot identify what it is. A pleasant soothing voice on the speaker spoke crystal clear but we cannot say that there are no issues involved.

There are some minor technological issues sometimes, like when the internet is down but always they can step in and does not lose the ability to interact with the customers politely and effectively.

These remote outsourcing services would even allow its workers to focus on filling the orders and on making change, thus improving more the customer satisfactions.

It’s hard to understand placing an order thousands of miles away and half way around the globe while waiting for a food in front of you in just a minute.

But the world has become a smaller place with the technologies and communications of today.

It is a small world after all.

James Pitt, Head of Operations at Catch Friday Enterprises, a British owned firm operating in Davao, Philippines concurs with Jack in the Box, and he even eats one, though not a hamburger, his call center staff are known for their PR, which is served on the same plate.

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