STRICTLY BUSINESS: 20 MINUTES NOT A QUICK SERVICE MEAL

A fish sandwich, fries and a soda. Ten minutes to grab a quick lunch, 20 minutes spent in line, not a good day for this fast-food consumer.

Today's fast-food consumers -- and that's just about everyone at one time or another -- know the frustrations when things don't go right at the drive-thru.

Quick-service restaurants now do 60 percent, or more, of their business at the drive-thru, one possible reason s for the "slower" service.

So, just who is the leader in the drive-thru, quick-service these days?

Try Wendy's, McDonald's and Burger King.

That's the big three according to a recently released national study conducted by Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), a magazine of quick-service restaurants.

The annual study, conceived and conducted by Sparagowski & Associates, a market research firm, determines the leading restaurant chains in four categories of drive-thru operations -- speed of service, order accuracy, menu-board appearance and speaker clarity.

Scores were based on more than 13,000 mystery shops of drive-thru stores in 49 states.

Consumers demand that drive-thru services be quick, accurate and friendly, said Lea Davis Paul, QSR editor. The annual survey indicates how well in general that a chain is meeting its operational goals.

The three overall winners for 1998 all have operations in Cape Girardeau and the Southeast Missouri area.

Long John Silver's won hands down in the speed-of-service category, with average orders filled in 2.65 minutes.

Other category winners were Chick-Fil-A in two categories, menu board appearance and speaker clarity, and the Whataburger chain, headquartered in Texas for order accuracy, at 86.7 percent accuracy.

"We thought the accuracy category would be much higher," said Paul. "Even drive-thrus with order-verification boards failed to reach the 90 percent mark."

Who made millions during the gold rush?

It is not known when gold was first discovered, but gold cups and jewelry have been dated as early as 3500 B.C.

The United States shares in one of the most famous gold discoveries of all times. People came to California from all over the world during the mid-1800s to find gold during the California Gold Rush that started in 1849.

Many people came and many people died, often as poor men. One estimate is that one out every five miners who trekked to the California gold fields in 1849 was dead within six months.

It seems that people who sold "Gold Rush" supplies -- pickaxes, pans, boots, food -- did better than most prospectors.

Sam Brannan didn't make his fortune in gold, but because of gold. He opened a store at Sutter's Fort, Calif., bought 30-cent pants and sold them for $15. Brannan eventually became the richest man in California.

A note in a recent Edward Jones stock letter mentions two other instances of riches.

John Fremont, it seems, got rich when a land agent bought property for him around Sonora, Calif., against his wishes. It all turned out for the best. He later learned the land was drenched with gold.

And, Phillip Armour needs little introduction. He was a miner's merchant at a time when breakfast cost $6 ($150 in today's dollars) and boots cost $50 a pair. He later used his money to found the Armour, Swift-Eckrich, one of the largest meat companies in America.

More gold rushes

There have been more than one big gold rush in the United States.

The state of Georgia had America's first big gold rush in 1828, and the largest U.S. gold strike of the 1900s was made near Carlin, Nev., in the early 1960s. The Carlin mine started operating in 1965, and provided about 10 percent of the annual gold production in the United States. The lure of gold mines and caches were among primary themes for many a western movie.

Showing the I.D.

More than 6 percent of visitors to Missouri riverboat casino facilities were asked to provide identification and proof of age before boarding last year.

Casino security personnel checked the identifications of more than 1.5 million of the more than 23 million people who visited the casinos.

Of those checked, 1.9 percent, or 28,000 people, were turned away because they were younger than 21, or lacked valid identification.

Preventing underage people from boarding riverboat casinos is one of the major objectives of our responsible gaming programs, said Mike Ryan of the Missouri Riverboat Gaming Association.

Missouri's casinos, said Ryan, has put almost $400 million into the state's education coffers over the past four years. They have provided millions of dollars for the cities where they are located and have generated 13,000 jobs statewide, in addition to countless other jobs for construction workers and vendors.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.