There are 15 people at best getting coffee in that first image

That's more like 10 people on the first image

The average Starbucks does not have a throughput that should legally allow them to have a drive though.

It takes like 5 minutes per car and one near me used to regularly back up on to the road and block the adjacent parking lot.

It just doesn’t make sense to go to the start bucks drive through ever, so I don’t know who is foolish enough to form these lines.

Notwithstanding that Starbucks is an awful corporation with either subpar coffee or comparable sugar levels to ice cream.

My main takeaway here is that people drinking Starbucks are not enjoying their coffee

I live in a country where drive through isn't that common. But when a huge local e-shop introduced pickup by drive through, I decided to try it out. I tried it twice. First time it was relatively empty so I though "Hah, that's actually pretty convinient and fast". Second time it was pretty packed and I thought "Omg this must be the stupidest idea ever. What am I doing here? I'm sitting in an artificial traffic jam which I literally can't leave while employees handle a fraction of customers at once. And why exactly? So I don't leave my car?"

Drive thru coffee shops should be illegal.

Yeah I for sure have time to sit down and drink a coffee at a cafe before work...

One unstated thing that helps create conditions for the above:

The people above pictured don't have robust unions and labor laws that save you from being annihilated for being late not early enough one time.

USA vs the world.

?

Does Europe have the bikini barista stands like we have out here? Those are Starbucks biggest competition.

Well, that and unions.

What's that area surrounding the cafe called?

Hopefully, we'll see more and more street reclamation, with cars pushed to parking lots and downtown streets reserved for walking, bicycling, and the occasional small electric vehicle for those who need them. Local laws need to change, so we all need to vote in local elections. Voter turnout for local elections is abysmal in most cities and towns.

We used to have places like Der Wienerschnitzel and Taco Bell with tables outside, but you still had to drive there and park. I don't know if new places are built like this anymore, probably not many. The last gasp of this sort of thing in America.

Surely the bottom picture should be an Italian piazza. French coffee culture is not much to write home about (they lean towards robusta rather than arabica, as that’s what their colonies grew) and the coffee you get in a pretty café in the touristy parts of Paris is going to be mediocre at best.

In all fairness, Starbucks in Europe even in more car centric countries are a lot more like the bottom one.

I don't think I've ever seen a drive-in to get coffee around these parts, and I've lived in several European countries.

Not fair. 'Murrican Super Size Drive-in versus European Coffee House. The first can never win this game.

As soon as you land.... leaving the imperial core.... it is ssoooooo much better.

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You are making a point, just not the one you intended to make. The first coffee shop is selling to people who want a nice place to slowly enjoy their cup of coffee. The second coffee shop is targeting commuters who want to grab a coffee to drink while they are driving into work.