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The “restaurant of the future” was the buzzword of 2020 for the external restaurant industry, which is still affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now, store redesigns are increasingly emphasizing the simplicity of the customer experience with tech rollouts like Panera’s geofencing technology and Taco Bell’s smartphone-powered food collectors.
The next part of the post-pandemic restaurant makeover? Robot. While AI and automation are certainly nothing new in the industry (Flippy the Fry Cook Robot debuted four years ago and Domino’s has long been testing AI skills), but these technologies make the leap from gimmick to gold standard as off-premises demands rise as well the challenges for workers in the industry remain.
AI comes into the drive-through lane
Given the ongoing labor crisis in the hospitality industry, operators are finding new ways to weather the employee slowdown, including investing in artificial intelligence. Testing of AI-powered drive-through lanes began prior to the pandemic, with both KFC and Dunkin piloting checkout-free automated drive-through routes with AI technology in 2019.
Interest in human-free drive-through lanes grew significantly last year when McDonald’s announced a test of automated voice ordering on drive-through streets in June, despite McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski saying it was a “big jump” from testing 10 restaurants to 14,000 and it will take more than a year for AI to spread further.
Rob Carpenter, founder and CEO of Denver-based Valyant AI – a technology company developing artificial intelligence solutions for drive-thru, take-out, and delivery – also believes the technology is still on the rise, but it’s constantly changing improved.
Roy Baharav, CEO and founder of Hi Auto – an Israeli competitor to Valyant AI who just announced a partnership with Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken in Ohio and more are in the pipeline – believes the main attraction of artificial intelligence is in drive-through : a solution for all kinds of work challenges.
Valyant is partnering with Checkers and Rally’s to use their voice assistant, and two other major partnerships with fast service brands are in the works. Although the company’s voice assistant program for Drive-Thrus is still learning accents and other variables, Carpenter said tests have 16-20% higher accuracy rates than Google or Amazon’s voice assistants.
“I think COVID has given the consumer the opportunity to become more familiar and familiar with these external options […] and a year and a half is a good time to really change consumer behavior, ”said Carpenter. “People are starting to see how simple and easy these technologies are. I think that will continue to grow. “
Roy Baharav, CEO and founder of Hi Auto – an Israeli competitor to Valyant AI who has just announced a partnership with Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken in Ohio and more are in the pipeline – believes the main attraction of artificial intelligence is drive-through : a solution for all kinds of work challenges.
“If you asked any of the restaurants that use our system [about the technology replacing employees]they said, ‘Please tell us where we can find these people who are ready to work on the transit,’ ”said Baharav.
But the work benefits don’t stop at filling the gaps in your shift schedule with a voice assistant.
“Often when you listen to drive-thru calls with people, they have to ask a customer to wait 40 seconds because they’re doing five other things,” said Baharav. “In addition, the employees are often under a lot of pressure … so that the AI leads to a better and faster experience overall.”
Baharav said that training employees will save Hi Auto’s AI upsells time. In both Hi Auto and Valyant AI, the artificial intelligence system can pass the interaction on to an employee when a customer prefers something or asks about something outside of the menu.
“It’s not a substitute for people; it really is a system, ”said Carpenter of AI and its role in the future of hospitality. “So whether it’s a drive-through assistant or a mobile ordering assistant, it’s just there to make it easy for both consumers and employees. … It’s been proven that our accuracy decreases when we multitask, so why not automate and [ease] the position of the pressure cooker. The computer never gets bored, tired or hungry. “
Jamie Richardson, vice president of marketing and public relations for White Castle, acknowledges that AI and automation are tools that can help employees perform better. White Castle began testing AI-powered drive-thru with license plate recognition last fall in partnership with Mastercard.
The brand’s AI menu board is named Julia, after a longtime White Castle employee in the 1930s and 1940s who was known for her hospitality and creating recipes for the chain.
“We see this as an empowerment, not a substitute,” said Richardson. “I know there are times in the press these comments about AI replacing people, and we don’t see it that way. It is not for nothing that we have a heart for hospitality. If it’s a tool that helps our people do their jobs better, wouldn’t we want to invest in it? “
Investing in AI and automation isn’t just meant to help employees, however. It’s also about creating a more personalized experience with opt-in license plate recognition technology that can recognize repeat customers.
“There is this opportunity to understand, ‘Todd really likes these mozzarella sticks, so let’s show him these” [when he pulls up to the drive-thru]”Said Richardson. “It helps to understand what people crave and when. … One of the lessons after COVID is, ‘Why wait when we have this technology on hand?’ “
Photo: Southside Flying Pizza uses the autonomous REV-1 robot.
Delivery robots gain traction
Restaurants – especially pizzerias – that offer their own delivery are feeling the labor shortage when trying to hire drivers. But can robots fill this hole? While Domino’s AI- and drone-powered takeout and delivery solutions were previously tested, its new delivery robot, powered by Nuro, only took to the streets in April for a test run in Houston to meet “growing customer needs,” the company said .
But national chains aren’t the only operators sticking their toes into computerized couriers.
Southside Flying Pizza began a partnership with delivery company Refraction AI in June. The seven-unit chain, based in Austin, is now using the autonomous REV-1 robot to deliver pizzas to one of their locations on Congress Avenue when their regular delivery drivers / cyclists are busy or unavailable. The partnership is still in the testing phase, but Josh Gibson, operations manager at Southside Flying Pizza, says he can see how crucial postponing robot deliveries across the board could be.
“We’d love to have everyone because there’s nothing like a smiling face,” Gibson said. “But we’re not afraid to use technology to grow our business and ensure that our guests can be attended to in a timely manner. … We have to be flexible and understand that we have to use technology to be profitable. “
When a customer places an order at the Congress Avenue location, they have no idea whether a robot or a human will show up. When the robot shows up, customers are given a code that they can enter to get their pizza. The delivery bot has separate cold and warm temperature boxes to keep the food as fresh as possible. Even though the robot only moves up to a speed of 15 mph, reported delivery times have been reduced from an hour and a half to about an hour, Gibson said – likely because a robot has better maneuverability than a cyclist.
Gibson said Refraction AI plans to expand its base in Austin so hopefully the technology can be deployed in additional Southside Flying Pizza locations by the fall.
“You know what?” said Gibson. “This robot will never call in sick on a Monday.”
Contact Joanna at [email protected]
Find her on Twitter: @JoannaFantozzi
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