McDonald’s Abandoning AI-Powered Drive Thrus After Embarrassing Failures

Joe Reinstein, executive director of the Digital Restaurant Association, noted that while it’s still “early days” for AI-powered restaurant tech, he acknowledged that such advanced technologies can solve real problems for restaurants. As such, more restaurants are turning to AI and robotics to streamline back-of-house operations, as well as reduce labor costs. In the sea of AI voice assistants, hospitality phone agents haven’t been getting as much attention as consumer-based generative AI tools like Gemini Live and ChatGPT-4o. And yet, the niche is heating up, with multiple emerging startups vying for restaurant accounts across the US. Last May, voice ordering AI garnered much attention at the National Restaurant Association’s annual food show. Bodega, the high-end Vietnamese restaurant I called, used Maitre-D AI, which launched primarily in the Bay Area in 2024.

AI also empowers restaurants to deliver tailored experiences that resonate with the consumer. This customized approach fosters deeper consumer connections to the brand, enhances loyalty and can drive repeat visits. McDonald’s is ending its test of employing artificial intelligence chatbots at drive-thrus, raising questions over the fast food industry’s rush to roll out the technology. In December, Bloomberg reported that McDonald’s was in discussions regarding a potential deal with Google, involving a chatbot named “Ask Pickles” that employees could use for various tasks. McDonald’s has also continued to integrate automation across its operations in other ways, including mobile ordering, in-store kiosks, drone deliveries, kitchen robotics, and AI-driven hiring tools.

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That changed after he moved away from home to study electrical and computer engineering at the University of Oklahoma. “I got my first taste of Wendy’s and have been enjoying [it] ever since,” says Spessard, who joined Wendy’s in 2020 as vice president of restaurant technology and has served as chief information officer since February. Major US fast food giants including Chipotle, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut have rolled out AI-assisted systems in recent years. McDonald’s is scrapping a trial of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted ordering at select drive-through restaurants after videos of order mix-ups went viral online. For now, the AI host is best viewed as a diligent “team member,” Sambvani says, with more sophisticated, detailed interactions to be rolled out soon.

• Chowbot was built by the HNP DevHub, a team of editorial engineers, data journalists and content strategists who collaborate with reporters and editors at the Chronicle and other Hearst Newspapers newsrooms across the country.
• White Castle has implemented SoundHound’s AI voice system in 15 of its restaurants for drive-thru orders, aiming to enhance accuracy and efficiency while reducing staff pressure and customer rush.
• The bot has been built off hundreds of reviews in the Chronicle’s Top Restaurant lists, all written and vetted by our experienced food and wine writers and critics.
• When opening a new conversation with Meta AI, the chatbot makes several suggestions for topics to ask about.

One professor estimated that generative AI would only contribute 0.5% to labor productivity growth in the next decade, according to the report. Machine Learning (ML) plays a crucial role here, using special algorithms, features, and datasets that continually learn and adapt through experience. As they receive more input data, CAI and GAI systems improve their pattern recognition abilities, utilising this knowledge to make predictions and deliver more accurate outcomes in quick timeframes. For example, in a drive-thru ordering scenario, the customer may interrupt the AI virtual assistant to ask a question about adding an ingredient, change the order or ask about promotions. The virtual assistant must be ready and able to properly pivot and maintain the context of the conversation – if it is unable to handle interruptions from customers, it has not been integrated effectively. Simply put, if the AI can’t handle an interruption or answer a question, it’s not so intelligent.

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We’re keeping an eye on all kinds of use cases out there to understand if there’s anything that we might be able to uncover that we’re not already thinking about. As we reflect on what’s happening in the competitive space, I would say we feel more and more bullish on our approach with the technology that we’ve developed and also with the partner that we have in Google Cloud. Wendy’s says the approach has been thorough, taking into account customer and employee feedback, as well as accuracy and speed rates of the AI-enabled orders.

• The similarity search, crucial for pinpointing appropriate restaurant recommendations, is powered not by LLMs but by OpenAI’s text-embedding-ada-002 model.
• But are you staffing your restaurant right, are you getting supplies from the right suppliers.
• We believe this will improve order, accuracy, speed of service and the opportunity to upsell.
• White Castle has been testing AI provided by speech recognition company SoundHound.

As AI continues to evolve, its integration into the restaurant industry will undoubtedly usher in a new era of efficiency, innovation and data-informed decision-making. Voice-based AI ordering for drive-thru’s is improving order accuracy and speed of service, promoting consistent upselling and increasing restaurant productivity. In addition, AI-driven technology facilitates predictive analytics and data-driven decision-making, enabling restaurants to optimize inventory management and staffing levels.

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Other chatbots can also suggest cafes and restaurants, but much of this data comes from information models learned from the internet, almost like it did the searching for users. Some chatbots benefit from having access to services that already aggregate information on businesses. Google’s Gemini, for example, can give a list of restaurants when prompted complete with details like chatbot for restaurant hours of operation, menus, and maps because it can pull from Google Maps. AI in food service should be capable of emulating human responses with empathy and context-awareness. It is important for it to automatically adapt its vocabulary and language to match the user demographics, and respond to changes in customer voice tone, facial expressions, sentiments, and body language.

A.Continued evolution (and debate) on using AI, big brands operating locally, product innovation speed and convenience. There is a push in the industry to find innovative ways to harness the power of AI and its potential impact on the QSR space. Certain brands will share that it will help them become faster, more accurate, and require less human capital.

Newo, another new startup, is currently rolling its software out at numerous Silicon Valley restaurants. Vinay Shukla and Rahul Aggarwal created the company in 2018 to work with restaurants on ordering over the phone and at drive-thrus, after finding a lack of digitization with both. Presto CEO Xavier Casanova said the brand is working with several chains, including Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr. and Checkers & Rally’s. The company finished the year with its voice AI technology implemented at more than 400 locations and is expected to be deployed at 1,270 units by the end of 2024. Del Taco initially praised Presto’s AI for drive-thru orders, stating that it was “exceeding expectations,” but has since decided to discontinue its use.

They are our cloud provider, in addition to co-developing these FreshAI capabilities, and we also partner with them in the data and analytics space. The innovation that’s come out of Google has obviously been incredible over time. And I would say that Google demonstrated a lot of interest in understanding our business and how ChatGPT App it worked. While his favorite Wendy’s menu item is the spicy chicken nuggets, Spessard has always craved finding fresh ways to infuse technology into restaurants. Throughout his career, he has worked in technology leadership roles at several restaurant operators, including Sonic Drive-In, Yum Brands, and Church’s Chicken.

Part of the plan is to ensure voice AI can deliver good experiences in those spaces too. Voice AI technology is integrated in more than 100 drive-thrus already “to enhance back-of-house operations for team members and elevate the order experience for consumers,” Yum! said in a statement. Taco Bell, which has more than 8,500 restaurants, plans to integrate voice AI technology in hundreds of its drive-thru locations in the U.S. by the end of 2024. The incidents highlight that the tech is far from ready to replace restaurant workers, and often still leads to frustration and outrage.

The posts get thousands of likes and comments from people who have no idea,” she wrote. Every single restaurant that the bot recommends was originally visited (and enjoyed) by a human on the Chronicle’s Food + Wine staff. “IBM developed Automated Order Taker (AOT) technologies with McDonald’s to support the emerging use of voice-activated AI in restaurant drive-thrus,” a spokesperson for Big Blue told us.

The ReachifyAI bot concierge services offers AI-powered voice ordering by phone or text-to-order. However, a representative at the Otter booth, a POS and order processing platform for Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens, later mentioned to me that their ghost kitchens are equipped with robot food runners. Several years ago, we announced our partnership with Google, and we’ve collaborated with them on a number of fronts.

The restaurant first gained attention last year, when Austin Monthly wrote an article noticing the account, which had also come to the attention of other, real Austin chefs who found it funny and were wondering who might be behind it. But we will continue experimenting with generative AI to find new and exciting ways to get our reporters’ expertise in front of more readers in different formats. Prior to joining The Verge, she covered the intersection between technology, finance, and the economy. I think telling them if they’re the right kind of restaurant, that’s going too far. But are you staffing your restaurant right, are you getting supplies from the right suppliers.

For upselling to be effective, virtual assistants need to exhibit human-like intelligence to make informed decisions about when to upsell. For example, if a customer orders a fish sandwich, and the AI asks if they’d like to upgrade to a meal, and the customer replies ‘yes,’ the customer is now already aware that they can upgrade to a meal. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. In this case, an intelligent, nuanced decision would be to not upsell the next item.

The fast food chains that embrace these innovations will likely find themselves at the forefront of a rapidly evolving and highly competitive market. As AI continues to develop, its full impact on the fast food industry remains an exciting and dynamic field to watch. One tech ChatGPT trend Happy Joe’s is hopping on in 2024 that others should follow along is robotic pizza making. The brand is working with a company called Picnic to try out these new pizza-making robots. This is a top tech trend because it produces pizzas fast and more consistently.

Most available trip planners don’t take logistics into account, but a couple of tests seem to show that Meta AI is getting better at that. For example, it suggested visiting Cypress Mountain and Stanley Park on the same day, which would make sense because the route to the mountain cuts through the park. And it suggested visiting Garibaldi Lake, a challenging hike about 90 minutes away from Vancouver, as the only activity for that day. Also notable, the chatbot didn’t make suggestions for visits that are too far outside of Vancouver.

In California, CKE Restaurants, the owner and franchisor of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, appears to be ahead of the pack on the technology, but like other chains, including Taco Bell, Burger King and El Pollo Loco, CKE declined to comment. Other computer-guided upgrades are also aimed at cutting labor costs, from automatic avocado peelers and dishwashers to robotic arms that flip burgers and turn over fryer baskets. By that estimate, the machines would pay for themselves within a year and shave about 20% of the increased cost from the latest minimum wage increase. Despite frequent claims that voice AI is a revolutionary tech solution, the results have been mixed in the restaurant sector.

Product innovation With the market getting more and more competitive, brands that can continue to innovate (unique food/beverage offerings) will stand out and grab business from a cooling customer segment. Simple things such as consistently awesome LTOs will be at a premium in 2024. Offering healthier items for a customer base that is becoming more educated and health-conscious will also be key. We recently switched our brand of Smoothies to a 100% Juice line (no added sugar like the competitors), and elevated our Sugar-Free and dairy alternatives to provide customers with better options.

Chains like Popeyes, Panera Bread, Taco Bell, and more are testing CAI and GAI at the drive-thru to help automate and streamline ordering. However, the successful scaling of these initiatives hinges on their effectiveness. There have been instances of fast food chains introducing automated drive-thru order-taking that unintentionally frustrated customers due to inaccuracies and repetitive use of upselling. ReachifyAI is a phone automation solution tailored for the restaurant industry. While other voice AI companies are deploying voice assistants in drive-thru lanes, ReachifyAI is targeting phone orders.

Fast-food chains have taken an immense interest in integrating generative AI into their systems in recent years. Along with McDonald’s, a range of other companies including Wendy’s, Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr, and Del Taco all use AI technology at their drive-thrus. Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell and KFC, announced earlier this year that it was instituting an “AI-first mentality” in its fast-food restaurants. Taco Bell, Checkers, and Carl’s Jr. are among the fast-food chains experimenting with drive-thru AI, a strong indication the industry sees potential productivity gains—and likely cost savings—if the technology is deployed successfully.

But McDonald’s ditched the technology earlier this year and Wendy’s rollout is fairly judicious, given that the company and its franchisees operate over 7,000 restaurants globally. A potential option could involve the company’s vague announcement of a Google deal in December. Bloomberg reported that the deal was partly for a chatbot named “Ask Pickles” that employees could use for guidance on things like cleaning ice cream machines. Even so, Google partnered with Wendy’s, which started testing drive-thru AI based on its tech last year and has since expanded that trial. According to some of the founders of AI voice host startups, many customers do, and for various reasons.

From automated drive-thru ordering systems to predictive inventory management, AI-driven solutions optimize a restaurant’s workflow, reducing wait times and increasing productivity. The fast-food industry’s growing affinity for AI comes as companies see the technology as a means of replacing human workers to reduce rising labor costs. After California passed a new mandatory minimum wage law for fast-food workers, businesses rushed towards implementing AI technologies that could perform tasks such as taking customer orders.

This will allow us to better serve our customer base with real data-driven decisions, from culinary and operations, through the customer experience and to what real estate sites make the most sense for our brands. AI’s role in restaurant tech and omnichannel order management as the future of point of sale. Similarly, we are building out tools to help our teams support our customers more effectively using these new tools. Argo Labs is a New York-based startup that has developed what it calls a “voice-to-voice AI” software tailored for the restaurant industry. “Our AI receptionist is designed to intelligently handle customer interactions over the phone, providing a seamless and personalized experience that enhances customer satisfaction and streamlines restaurant operations,” the company said. The tech solution can take orders, make reservations, and answer customer questions like a concierge.

Applications increased this year with over 370 coming in, and the foundation chose 50 individuals to visit Taco Bell’s Irvine headquarters for three days of mentoring and networking that culminated in the competition. Five finalists were selected to pitch their social, environmental or financial program to a panel of judges for a chance to win $25,000 in funding. “Each of them sit in different regions, zones and contexts, and they’ve been helping us create a better solution,” he added. This is also where Taco Bell’s franchisee relationships became critical to the technology’s growth with many of the independent owners involved from the beginning, according to Mathews.

Uberall CoreX simplifies location data management, localized campaigns, and online reputation across platforms like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Nextdoor. Under her leadership, the company services over 1,850 multi-location businesses across 170 countries. Stevenson has extensive experience in marketing automation, strategic planning, and thought leadership development. AI-powered tools can revolutionize staffing for restaurants, allowing managers to easily manage employee schedules and access important predictive metrics. By automating scheduling and alerting managers in case of absences, AI can free up time and resources for managers to focus on other important tasks.

Kraeger, of Crescent Heights, was specifically interested in and looking to help restaurants. He needed to look no further than home for motivation as he and his wife owned a restaurant in the mid 1990s, in Utica, New York, their hometown. They closed the restaurant in 1999 to start a family, but he saw firsthand how difficult the business model could be. “The hardest part is when you have people with accents, from different states and immigrants. It’s challenging,” said Danilo Gargiulo, senior analyst covering restaurants for Bernstein, an investment and research firm.