Five months into their Early Bird pilot, Starbucks found that average arrival rate at the store had plateaued at 1 customer/1.5 minutes. Concerned about the lack of future growth Starbucks reluctantly decided to accelerate installation plans for a service window to accommodate drive-thru traffic. Store Management was concerned about the effect on the brand of a customer experience that didn't involved Starbuck's classic cafe setting. Despite these concerns the installation was authorized and the affect was immediate. The average arrival rate increased 5% each week with no change in service rate at 60 customers/hr. However, in granting the food service permits for the drive thru operation, local health officials stipulated that the store management insure the line of vehicles not extend into the heavily-traveled commuter parkway on which Starbucks was located. Due to the location of the hastily installed service window, the maximum allowable vehicle queue was 8 cars.