AI Innovation in Fast Food: Wendy's FreshAI Shows Improved Efficiency in the Drive-Thru

This year, artificial intelligence (AI) has continued to emerge as a subject of innovation among franchise brands. Wendy’s is one of the latest to report the impact the technology has had on operations, QSR Magazine reported. 

In June, the franchise began a pilot of what is called FreshAI at a Westerville, Ohio-based restaurant, in which the drive-thru used Google Cloud’s generative AI technology, which can generate responses, adapt in real-time and provide a personalized experience for every customer. The AI’s knowledge is based on data from Wendy’s menu. The pilot location features a double-drive thru, with one lane using the AI technology and the other using a traditional speaker box.

Since the pilot began, “the technology has gotten better and it’s gotten better rapidly,” according to chief information officer Kevin Vasconi. In fact, the location’s service time was recorded as being 22 seconds faster than the average of the Columbus metro area. Around 86% of the time, the system successfully handles an order without an employee having to intervene. And sometimes, the accuracy even rises to over 90%. 

AI is able to recognize when a guest is exhibiting frustration and repetition. It will then push the order toward a human employee. For interactions started by AI but escalated to a team member, orders have been recorded at nearly 99% accuracy. 

When it comes to challenges, the franchise says they aren’t too different from the challenges faced if a human were there, such as dealing with excessive noise, understanding customized orders, or when a person repeatedly stops and restarts an order. 

“We’ve all done it,” Vasconi said. “My kids are in the back seat. I’m like, ‘What did you want again?' The [AI] does remarkably well there but those are the kind of use cases I would say … give it the most trouble. And a lot of that is literally more speaker microphone issues than actually the agent itself. Because your kids are yelling at you. Maybe they’re crying. Those are tough.”

Wendy’s isn’t the only franchise experimenting with AI. Yum! Brands, the parent company behind quick service franchises Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, has also been betting big on the technology.

The company is testing a voice-enabled AI drive-thru system in several of its California restaurants. On an earnings call in November, chief financial officer Chris Turner said the system has increased speed, productivity and efficiency. The system even provides automated upsell recommendations. 

Yum! Brands is also on track to have its automated inventory management (AIM) system rolled out across the KFC United States system by the end of 2023. The AI-module, which was developed in-house, predicts and suggests the product quantity that a general manager should order. The brand is also testing a proprietary automated drinks fulfillment system, which will be integrated into its proprietary point-of-sale (POS) platform called Poseidon. 

As for the future of AI at Wendy’s, FreshAI is now active in four company-owned stores. More are expected to open through the end of 2023 and into the beginning of 2024. The franchise will also offer franchisees the opportunity to test the technology next year. 

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