Happy Friday. This is The Shake 🤝: the weekly newsletter casually serving up unique hits like it’s the US Open.

Here’s what we got this week:

• Origin Story: The Drive-Thru 🚗 

• On Island Time: A private home on its own island in NJ

MARKET RADAR

Origin Story: The Drive-Thru 🚗 

Humans want to optimize their lives around convenience. The easier the process, the faster we’ll dish out the money.

One concept that revolutionized customer experience was the creation of the drive-thru.

Unless, of course, you’re behind someone like this 👇️ 

Now you’re probably picturing a fast-food restaurant but this innovation impacted the way people interact with various businesses.

Do you want ketchup with your fries or your latest doctor's prescription?

These drive-thru services date all the way back to a century ago, and turns out it didn’t start with food…

The origin of the drive-thru concept is actually credited to the banking industry. The City Center Bank in Syracuse, New York, is believed to have introduced one of the earliest drive-thru windows in the late 1920s to service their busy customers.

Then as car ownership spiked during the Roaring Twenties, creative accommodations for quick and easy service became trendy in the 1930s.

The food industry’s prequel to the drive-thru was the drive-in.

In this concept, the car became the dining room 🍽️ . Carhops would take down orders and run the food directly to the vehicle - making for an effortless dining experience (until you need to clean your car).

Who else had Sonic come to mind?

Other businesses began to follow suit after the Second World War in the 40s. Liquor stores and even grocery stores adopted a drive-thru concept (before any restaurants).

The first “fast food” drive-thru didn’t make its appearance until 1947. Red’s Giant Hamburg off Route 66 in Missouri transformed from a gas station into a burger-flipping drive-up window. It was an immediate hit for passing motorists.

Shortly after in 1948, the GOAT QSR created the first truly efficient drive-thru with its innovative ordering system that’s still in use today.

That’s right, we’re talking In-N-Out 🍔 

Starting up in a 10 sqft burger stand, their motto was ‘No Delays’ and founder Harry Snyder took that to heart.

He dreamed of an experience where customers could place their orders faster and without having to leave their vehicles or speak face-to-face with an employee.

So he began tinkering and invented the first two-way speaker box out of his garage. Placing it near the entrance of their stand was a game-changer and optimized the speed of ordering and take-out.

Combine all of this with a simple menu (that hasn’t changed much), and it’s the pioneering ordering system for the modern drive-thrus we have today.

To no surprise, In-N-Out took off in the southwest and its speaker box caught the attention of many copycats.

New food chains like Jack-in-the-Box spun up in 1951 and implemented the drive-thru concept on day one. They tailored their menu to only foods you could easily consume on the go - burgers, fries, boneless chicken, and apple pies for dessert.

Widespread adoption clicked in the mid-70s. McDonald’s didn’t have a drive-thru until 1975, although they are often credited with popularizing drive-thru lanes nationwide.

Once they saw the success, McD’s implemented it as a standard feature in all new openings, and a new era of fast food was cemented.

The drive-thru hype was real, and its impact went beyond just ordering food.

Before drive-thrus, cars were rarely designed or manufactured with cup holders. By the 1980s, the feature was considered a must-have in every car.  

Over time, the drive-thru concept extended beyond just fast food and banking. Pharmacies, coffee shops, and other businesses started implementing drive-thru services to cater to customers' desire for convenience.

Today, the drive-thru has become an integral part of consumer culture but the industry faces challenges related to traffic congestion, order accuracy, and environmental concerns.

Innovation isn’t done yet, either. Chick-fil-A has a new approach to speeding up drive-thru times — adding a full door instead of a drive-up window.

Almost like combining the old-fashioned drive-in carhop service with the efficient ordering system of a drive-thru.

@iamkelvinj

Chick Fil A got a whole door in the drive through. Lol #chickfila

The drive-thru history is truly intertwined with the evolution of fast-paced lifestyles and changing consumer preferences.

FYI: Drive-thru services may really be limited only by a person's imagination. 

The Robert L. Adams Mortuary in Compton, Calif. is one of a handful of funeral parlors in the United States to offer drive-thru viewings of the dead.

Reply back to this email with the craziest type of drive-thru experience you’ve heard/witnessed and we’ll send a $100 LARQ bottle to our favorite response.

Ever Considered Buying an Island?

It’s about time we dug into one of the coolest homes we’ve come across! This one is right at the Jersey Shore.

New Jersey has a ton of beach towns (44 to be exact), all of which are special in their own kind of way. Want to go out and fist pump? You’ll probably be headed a little bit further North. Want to go do shots “God’s Basement”? See you in Sea Girt, my friend. Have a family and want to go to the boardwalks? Ocean City and Wildwood are excellent choices.

That being said, there’s an awesome shore town right in the middle of the coast that many people don’t even know exists: Beach Haven, NJ located right on Long Beach Island (LBI).

LBI and Beach Haven specifically are known for the movie JAWS. The shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916 led to the book and later Spielberg’s movie.

Real estate in LBI comes at a premium, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any property (even a condo) that isn’t in the millions. There are plenty of amazing homes on this island, especially in the town of Beach Haven, but there’s one that sticks out beyond the rest: 4 Lower Little Island. Why’s that? Well, it’s on its own f—ing island, that’s why.

This home was listed for $2,000,000 in 2020 and didn't sell. The agent made some great points in the listing description: “Many people can say they own waterfront property in the state, but only TWO can claim to own a PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL ISLAND.”

That has me ready to run through a wall and buy this thing with the cash I don’t have. Seriously though, this is pretty incredible (and more attainable than you’d expect for a whole entire island).

The property is only a 3-minute boat ride from some of the best restaurants, bars, and family fun that the entire Jersey Shore has to offer. It sounds great in theory, but I can’t wrap my head around the practicality of the situation. Imagine getting home from the market and realizing you forgot toilet paper? Welp, guess we have to fire up the boat again.

This one is being saved to the favorites folder on Zillow for sure (along with the other 500+ homes I scroll at night), and maybe one day this one could be added to the Airbnb portfolio.

I think Zillow may have messed up on the Walk Score and the Bike Score, though 😉 .

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^{DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.}