Taco Bell is going ahead with AI Drive-Thru rollouts. And that’s surprising to many. Virtually all the other Fast Food majors have pulled back from their initial AI sales and payment initiatives after embarrassing failures…
‘Defy’: The ‘Taco Bell of the Future’ concept. Will be incorporating AI in ordering,
payment, inventory maintenance, kitchen automation and other systems…
The Bell has not been saying much about the early tests of its AI technology. Perhaps because its competitors have suffered embarrassing publicity after less-than-successful rollouts. But the Bell insists, innovation is ‘in its DNA’…
No compunctions
But the Tex-Mex giant has announced it’s version of Voice AI tech will be rolled out to all locations across the chain by the end of this year. it’s already in place at more than 100 Taco Bell locations in 13 states. The company made a point of stating its AI system has been ‘positively received’.
“Innovation is ingrained in our DNA at Taco Bell, and we view Voice AI as a means to improve the team member and consumer experiences,” Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s Chief Digital & Technology Officer, said in a statement. “Tapping into AI gives us the ability to ease team members’ workloads, freeing them to focus on front-of-house hospitality. It also enables us to unlock new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers.”
Mathews didn’t expand on the concept of ‘unlocking new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers’. But the brand is probably keeping those in their back pocket for future announcements.
Stark contrast
Taco Bell’s decision to forge ahead with AI is a stark contrast to the recent decisions by at least two of the top-tier Fast Food brands to cancel their planned rollouts.
McDonald’s announced last month that it was suspending implementation it’s AI initiative indefinite-ly. The brand declared its drive-thru system pilot project a failure, and said it would pull its voice AI systems from all locations where they were bring tested by the end of this year.
Wendy’s previously declared its much-hyped AI drive-thru program a work in progress, after a week of negative social media feedback on the first few locations unveiled. The brand’s FreshAI system apparently could not handle special requests such as ‘hold the onions’. Though it was designed to ‘learn on the job’ by experience with thousands of customer interactions. Wendy’s says, they’re tweaking it…
They’ll be back…
Other major Fast Food chains are headed in the same general direction, as part of their heavily pro-moted ‘restaurant of the future’ programs. But industry observers expect them to be more circum-spect in their efforts, waiting to roll out their versions of AI until they’re fully cooked.
As faithful readers of this newsblog will know, the other major vector is AI implementation at Fast Food joints is embodied in the digital menuboard concept. Filly-digital, computer screen-based menu board will eventually be installed at all grab-and-go restos. They’ll enable the resto’s central data management system to monitor cash register activity. And allow individual location managers act at a moment’s notice to put up ‘spot’ specials to encourage business during slow traffic periods.
Faithful readers will also know that the menuboard systems have come under fire from consumers. They have, built into them, the ability to implement ‘surge pricing’. That’s the nefarious tactic some other business – notably UBER Eats – user to boost prices during busy times. The potential ‘scandal’ surfaced when Wendy’s announced its planned foray into digital menuboards last year. The catch phrase associated with the plan was ‘dynamic pricing’. But the hubbub was quickly squelched by stern head office denials.
My take
As I understand it, each of the major Fast Food companies is developing its own highly customized AI system based on various ‘platforms’ offered by tech companies the average person has probably never heard of.
You can bet the competition will be scrambling to find out everything they can about the new Taco Bell drive-thru system. In hopes they can fix their own less-than-ideal implementations as soon as humanly possible…
~ Maggie J.