The voice that takes your order for a Doritos Locos taco at Taco Bell’s drive-thru may be coming from an AI server. Taco Bell parent company Yum! Brands is expanding its voice AI feature to hundreds of new locations across the U.S. The Mexican food chain has had early success embedding AI in its drive-thrus, and the company plans to roll out the technology globally to its other restaurants, including KFC.
More than 100 Taco Bell drive-thrus in 13 states are already using AI to take orders from drivers. The response has been positive enough to warrant a major push by executives to add hundreds more by the end of the year. The idea is to improve and streamline operations behind the scenes. The kitchen becomes less chaotic without anyone behind the microphone, and workers can focus on cooking and other tasks, only taking orders when the AI is overwhelmed.
“Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new opportunities, and AI is a core part of that strategy. We are expanding and accelerating our AI capabilities, such as Voice AI, to deliver industry-leading technologies to our franchisees and enhance the consumer and team member experience,” Lawrence Kim, Yum! Brands’ chief innovation officer, explained in a statement. “With more than two years of refining and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we are confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and improving customer satisfaction.”
Yum! claims that its voice AI platform has made itself indispensable at Taco Bell locations that participated in pilot testing of the voice AI. Those locations reported higher order accuracy rates and higher customer satisfaction due to the faster, more consistent process. Of course, even a few hundred additional Taco Bell locations adding voice AI won’t make it universal, considering there are nearly 7,500 Taco Bells in the U.S. alone.
AI order up
Taco Bell may have a rosy outlook for voice AI in drive-thrus, but the technology has occasionally had an unwanted onion in its delivery business. McDonald’s has quietly scaled back its own voice AI ambitions, despite a long, complex, multi-year effort that culminated in the creation and sale to IBM of McD Tech Labs. On the other hand, Wendy’s pilot program in partnership with Google has gone well, while the company behind Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. has struck deals with three different voice AI developers to bring the capability to as many locations as possible.
Yum! has already begun its own plans to expand its voice AI globally. Five KFC restaurants in Australia are currently testing voice AI at drive-thrus. The company says there’s been enough positive feedback to begin preparing for a broader rollout across KFC and other Yum! Brands restaurants.
“Innovation is in our DNA at Taco Bell, and we see Voice AI as a way to improve the experience for team members and consumers,” said Dane Mathews, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Taco Bell. “By leveraging AI, we can lighten the workload for team members so they can focus on front-line hospitality. It also allows us to unlock new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers.”