Following Two Years of Testing, Taco Bell’s AI Ordering System is Set to Enhance Customer Experience in Hundreds of U.S. Locations
Americans who hit Taco Bell’s drive-through lane for a spicy-food fix late this year will probably place their orders by interacting with an artificial intelligence voice. The fast-food brand’s parent franchisor, Yum! Brands, said Wednesday that the AI voice technology would move into hundreds of its U.S. restaurants in coming months.
The innovative ordering technology is gaining broad acceptance from customers and restaurateurs, according to Worldmetrics.org. The data collection organization cites persuasive statistics for jumping on the AI bandwagon:
- AI-powered automation can trim wait times at fast-food restaurants by 50%.
- More than four out of five customers (83%) say AI enhances their restaurant experience.
- Restaurant operators believe AI-based inventory management can decrease food waste in quick-service restaurants by as much as 50%.
- AI-enabled personalization can boost fast-food customers’ spending by 31%.
Taco Bell Isn’t Alone
Taco Bell is one of several fast-food chains testing AI with the goals of saving employees time, accelerating order fulfillment, and upselling customers. Major franchise brands such as Bojangles, Carl’s Jr., Checkers, Dunkin’, Hardee’s, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, McDonald’s, Taco John’s and Wendy’s also have used AI technology ordering systems, according to reports by NBC News, Fast Company magazine and the online publications Restaurant Dive and QSR Magazine.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, McDonald’s recently ended its pursuit of AI ordering technology in a partnership with IBM. In announcing the discontinued project in June, a McDonald’s representative told Fast Company that “a voice ordering solution for drive-through will be part of our restaurants’ future,” and the restaurant brand would “make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.” In other words, McDonald’s would likely seek another vendor to set up its AI future.
McDonald’s had tested AI ordering at 100-plus restaurants, but customers complained repeatedly that the system screwed up their orders, CNN reported. One of many viral social media videos showed a young woman shouting STOP at the drive-through microphone as more than two dozen chicken nugget orders were added to her order in error, CNN said.
Challenges of AI Technology
AI ordering is a massive challenge for restaurants because the technology must deal with a wide range of both food preferences and ways of stating those preferences, including varied accents, pronunciations and phrasing. In addition, ambient noise can interfere with AI speech recognition. Lawrence Kim, chief innovation officer at Yum! Brands, said that if an AI ordering problem occurs at a Taco Bell, an employee is always monitoring and can jump in to help as needed.
Yum! Brands has swiftly progressed with its AI. In May, the company’s leaders said Taco Bell would expand its voice AI pilot from the initial five sites to 30 in California, NBC News reported. Kim told CNN he’s confident that Taco Bell’s technology, which has since been in use at more than 100 of its 7,000-plus restaurants in 13 states, is a winner. He said that two years of testing resulted in praise for improved order accuracy from employees as well as customers, who also appreciated their shorter wait times in drive-through lanes.
One concern about AI is that it would eliminate jobs. Kim disputed that in CNN’s article, saying, “Voice AI does not replace any team members.” Instead, he said, it’s designed as a tool to help workers “focus on other tasks that are a priority for them.”
Yum! Brands’ Digital Future
“I believe the applications for voice AI are boundless,” Kim told CNN, and the Yum! Brands technology team is “continuously evaluating what could be next.” In a news release, Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s chief digital and technology officer, said “innovation is ingrained in our DNA at Taco Bell.” Restaurant Dive noted that Taco Bell previously had embraced technology for its drive-through lanes in multiple ways, including its digital menu boards, Yum! Brands’ proprietary Poseidon point-of-sales system and the next iteration of Taco Bell’s loyalty program, which will be integrated later this year.
Yum! Brands, which also owns Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit Burger Grill, stated that the umbrella franchisor rings up about $30 billion in annual sales via digital ordering, or roughly 50% of its total revenue. Yum! Brands already is widening its deployment of AI; the company’s news release disclosed that five KFC restaurants in Australia are also experimenting with AI technology in their drive-through lanes, with those tryouts going well. And NBC News’ article said Taco Bell may soon implement AI ordering around the world.
