wphamilton

It's plausible but I don't think so. Business owners, even Corporate America, don't usually let perceptions get in the way of a profit. I think that the main concern is usually about loitering and crime. If you've got a rowdy element making a habit of loitering in your parking lot, that's bad for business. The manager or owner walks out and tells them to get lost, problem solved. But with a walk-up, some of them get a coke or burger, in a sense you're encouraging that. Then you've got a problem - it's not so easy to run off a paying customer. You might really be subject to a lawsuit, or alienating business, or have to put up with the disruption. All bad choices.

They'll tell you "insurance" because there are some things you just don't say to customers. You can't tell people that you have a policy because you might need to run them off. Or because you're afraid that some of your customers will commit crimes. In a bar sure, but not in fast food. People will worry about it, be offended, stay away.

This whole conversation brings me back to my high school days, we owned a restaurant in a small town. Full service/fast food. We branched out in another town later and I ran that one for a year or two. We did have a walk-up, not a drive-thru, and surprisingly people did tend to use it and many of them sat in their cars and ate. There was never any loitering to speak of although now and again a traveler would overnight in the parking lot. There were no insurance restrictions, no concern about the liability of people walking or biking in the parking lot; other than the real concern of keeping the window area dry, accessible, without obstructions, etc. But you can be sure that had some problem developed we'd have closed the window in a heartbeat. I'm sure that the company line would have been "insurance liability."