AI to take drive-thru orders at major chains
Tech coming at Taco Bell, Pizza hut, KFC locations
By: Anthony Robledo
USA Today
..... Artificial intelligence will soon take fast-food orders at 500 major chains including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.
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Though a partnership with technology company Nvidia, fast-food giant Yum! Brands said it will begin rolling out AI at hundreds of its locations starting in April [2025] and continuing through June. [2025] That includes using the company's voice-ordering tech, which will handle complex menu orders and navigate customer speech patterns, according to a news release this week. [03/25/2025]"Looking ahead, Yum! is expanding AI to help team members manage complex tasks, including AI agents that plan reason and act to assist across restaurants," the parent company said in the release.
..... The roll-out will incorporate more advanced AI capable of language models, emotional comprehension and personalized customer reactions, according to Yum! Brand.
..... Nvidia's AI technology has already been sued at select Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurant during "a successful pilot: state, Yum! Brans said. The technology is expected to "optimize drive-thru efficiency and back-of-house labor management through real-time analytics and alerts."
..... Yum! Brands joins other fast-food companies, like McDonald's and Wendy's that have experimented with AI at it's locations.
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During a February 13 [2025] earning call, Wendy's CEO Kirk Tanner said the company will deploy voice-enabled AI to take orders at up to 600 restaurants nationwide after executi8ves "really liked" the results of the pilot program, which incorporated the technology at nearly 100 locations.
..... Tanner added that FreshAI "improves the customer experience and enables some labor efficiencies in our restaurants."
..... Meanwhile, McDonald's ended a pilot AI program last July [2024] after customers reported the tool got orders wrong. in 2021, the fast food giant partnered with IBM to test-run AI ordering technology at over 100 locations, according to CNBC and Fox Business.
..... Contributing: Amaris Encian and Jonathan Limhouse, USA Today