If ChatGPT greeted you at the drive-thru, it might provide a unique and personalized experience but it might not be the most efficient system on its own for taking your order. While ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI that has the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, it is not specialized to handle a job in a fast-paced environment like a drive-thru. However, there are specialized AI voice assistants that are highly trained for taking orders at the drive-thru. This buyer's guide outlines 6 important factors you should consider when selecting an AI voice automation partner for your drive-thru operations.

In today's fast-paced world, convenience is king. From fast food to banking, customers want quick and efficient service, and businesses are increasingly turning to AI voice technology to provide it. One industry that has seen growing demand for AI voice automation is quick-service restaurants (QSRs). With the help of digital menus, double lanes, and artificial intelligence (AI), drive-thru experiences are becoming faster, smoother, and more personalized than ever before. In this era of on-the-go living, QSRs are at the forefront of technological innovation. Drive-thru operators are discovering that investing in AI voice ordering automation solutions could be key to meeting guest expectations, retaining staff, driving revenue growth and staying competitive.

With AI voice automation deployed in the drive-thru, this solution allows drive-thru guests to place orders without human intervention 95% of the time. This allows restaurant staff to be redeployed to ensure guest orders are made to order and packed out accurately. Ensuring order accuracy is crucial for customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry, particularly in drive-thru orders.

Various studies have revealed that order errors can lead to customer dissatisfaction, which results in brand reputation damage and lost revenue. For instance, QSR’s 22nd Annual Drive-Thru Study found that 15% of respondents had experienced inaccurate orders. Based on the study, accurate orders are completed 49 seconds faster than inaccurate orders. Considering an average meal cost of $9.02 and the time difference of 49 seconds between accurate and inaccurate orders, the potential revenue losses due to inaccurate orders can quickly accumulate. In fact, this can lead to a potential revenue loss of $53,981 per year per drive-thru location.

In this guide for drive-thru operators, we will explore the importance of selecting the right AI voice automation partner for your drive-thru and provide recommendations for choosing a reliable and effective solution that can help you take your drive-thru business to the next level.

A reliable partner can help you navigate the complex process of integrating AI voice technology into your drive-thru operations. This process can be complex, and an experienced partner can help guide you through it, ensuring that the implementation goes smoothly and efficiently. On the other hand, an experienced partner can lead to costly mistakes and dissatisfied drive-thru guests. Delays in deployment and issues with the tech stack can arise if the AI voice technology being used is unreliable or not designed to scale quickly. These issues can be particularly costly and can have a negative impact on the effectiveness of the technology in your drive-thru operations. By selecting the right AI voice automation partner for your drive-thru operations, you can ensure a seamless and positive experience for all involved.

AI voice automation benefits:

• Increased speed of service: With AI voice automation in place, guests are never asked to wait, the AI voice assistant immediately takes guests orders with a consistent and friendly demeanor. Then the order is sent seamlessly to the POS system, increasing throughput, reducing wait times for guests and increasing the number of orders that can be processed in a given time period.
• Improved order accuracy: By automating the ordering process, AI voice automation can reduce the likelihood of human errors caused by miscommunication between guests and staff. In addition, the staff can be redeployed to ensure orders are made fresh and packed out accurately.
• Personalized menu recommendations: AI voice automation technology can analyze data from previous orders to make personalized recommendations to guests, resulting in better guest experience and higher average check sizes.
• Cost savings: By reducing labor costs and improving efficiency, AI voice automation can help drive-thru restaurants improve profitability.
• Enhanced guest experience: AI voice automation can improve the overall guest experience by providing a more convenient and personalized ordering process.

How to Choose the Right AI Voice Automation Partner?

Here are the six key components when selecting the right AI voice ordering technology partner to ensure the best return on investment (ROI) for you to automate and optimize your drive-thru franchise operations:

1. Technology and features: It is important to select an AI voice automation technology partner that uses the latest technology and offers the features that are most important for your business. For example, with Prest Voice™, drive-thru ordering is transformed from a purely transactional experience to an exciting interaction that guests look forward to and want to experience more frequently. Automation technology doesn’t have to be boring or impersonal.
2. Customization and flexibility: Every drive-thru has unique needs and preferences, so it is important to select a partner that can customize their AI voice automation solution to fit your specific requirements. This includes the ability to adapt to changing menu items, pricing, and promotions.
3. Integration with existing systems: Your AI voice automation system will need to integrate with your existing point-of-sale (POS), kitchen display systems (KDS), and other systems. It is important to select a partner that has experience integrating with a variety of systems and can provide seamless integration.
4. Security and data privacy: Customer data privacy and security are critical considerations when selecting an AI voice automation partner. You will want to select a partner with a proven track record of protecting customer data and complying with relevant regulations.
5. Customer support and maintenance: Finally, it is important to select a partner that provides excellent customer support and ongoing maintenance. This includes real-time technical support, regular updates and patches, and the ability to quickly resolve any issues that may arise.
6. Proven track record: It is important to select a partner that has experience working with quick-service restaurants and has demonstrated the capability to scale and deploy their AI voice ordering solution to hundreds of locations in the shortest period of time.

Return on Investment (ROI)

While it may seem like a good idea to buy a cheaper piece of equipment or solution, it’s important to do your homework beforehand to see if this will be the best investment for your franchise business. When franchise owners cut corners on technology, they usually end up paying more long-term with replacements and costly upgrade services.

By choosing the right technology partner with the right automation solution for your drive-thru, the return on investment should pay for itself on day one.

Here are two case studies of successful AI voice automation deployment in the drive-thru:

In 2021, Checkers & Rally’s conducted a detailed pilot program of Presto’s automated voice ordering technology at multiple locations over a four-month period. During this time, Presto’s solution delivered a high level of automation and accuracy, with over 95% of drive-thru orders completed with minimal intervention from restaurant employees. The Presto solution also performed well with unique or infrequently ordered menu items and easily managed various guest accents.

“Checkers & Rally’s is the pioneer of the double drive-thru restaurant model, so our decision to again lead the industry with the largest rollout of an AI-based voice assistant solution should be no surprise,” said Frances Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer at Checkers & Rally’s. “We are excited about this new era in partnership with Presto, a leader in the restaurant hospitality technology field. As a company, we embrace technology that will help our team members maximize time and efficiency while making their jobs easier and more enjoyable, creating a better experience for them as well as our guests.”

Del Taco, the nation’s second-largest Mexican quick-service restaurant with approximately 600 locations nationwide, announced in early 2023 the rollout of Presto Voice after conducting a comprehensive test of Presto’s AI voice ordering solution in 2022. During this test, the Presto conversational AI voice assistant greeted guests, reliably accepted their orders, and consistently offered upsell suggestions. Over 95% of the drive-thru orders placed using Presto Voice are being completed with no staff intervention, and seamlessly being sent to the Point of Sale (“POS”) system and the Kitchen Display System (“KDS”).

Presto’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered solution, Presto Voice, is operating 24/7 at select Del Taco locations, where it is significantly helping operations by improving labor productivity, increasing upselling, and boosting guest and staff experience.

“With Del Taco’s desire to build a drive-thru that improves operational efficiency while delivering an elevated guest experience, the Presto AI-based voice assistant solution is a natural choice,” said Kevin Pope, Vice President Operations Innovation at Del Taco. “The Presto platform and team have exceeded our expectations, and we are excited as we prepare to deploy the solution at additional restaurants across the nation.”

Presto is Leveraging ChatGPT to Enhance Drive-thru Guest Experience

Presto Voice leverages cutting-edge AI techniques such as large language models (LLM) and generative AI to accurately comprehend natural human language and provide logical responses to guests ordering at the drive-thru. The AI engine is fully integrated with the restaurant's menu and can support a range of options such as item combos, coupons, price variations, and promotional items. As more drive-thru guests use the system, the AI engine becomes increasingly intelligent and context-sensitive, accommodating various accents, alternate terms, and unique guest queries. With over 95% of drive-thru orders being processed without any staff intervention, the system offers unparalleled efficiency and accuracy.

Even though ChatGPT will not be greeting you at the drive-thru, Presto is working with OpenAI to expand the feature set of the company’s drive-thru AI voice assistant (Presto Voice), make it more robust, and enable the interactions to be more human-like. Presto Voice is a very specialized AI model. It's designed to know the restaurant’s menu, all the different combos, coupons, prices and seasonal items.

Presto has identified three specific areas where it is planning to use the ChatGPT API to augment the Presto Voice AI engine:

• Enhanced Menu Options: - ChatGPT will be used to create restaurant-specific and region-specific menu knowledge bases. These can then be used by Presto Voice for better restaurant data management and more powerful menu management.
• Platform Robustness: - ChatGPT will be used to create tens of thousands of test guest orders representing different tones, personas, and order types. This data can then be used to test Presto Voice and make it more robust by improving the stability of the AI engine.
• More Natural Responses: - ChatGPT will be used to make the responses to customer queries and interactions sound more natural, improving the user experience. For example, rather than saying "I have 1 burrito no guacamole, 1 burrito no tomatoes" Presto Voice could say "that's 2 burritos, one with no guac and one with no tomatoes."

OpenAI’s ChatGPT API will be used to expand the feature set of the Presto’s drive-thru AI voice assistant (Presto Voice™), resulting in interactions that are more natural and human-like. This collaboration reflects Presto’s commitment to introducing the most advanced automation technologies in its industry-leading AI products.

The Future of Drive-thru is Now

In conclusion, when evaluating potential technology partners, it's important to ask questions about their track record in the industry, the specific features their AI voice automation technology offers, their ability to customize their system to your needs, their data security and privacy measures, and the level of customer support you can expect.

The restaurant industry is facing significant challenges, including rising costs, and operators still face a tight labor market with 79% of operators surveyed reporting difficulty hiring according to the latest National Restaurant Association’s 2023 State of the Restaurant Industry report. AI voice technology allows restaurants to do more with less, improve their operations, retain staff, generate new revenue, and improve guest experience.

Presto offers restaurant operators enterprise-grade next-gen automation technology with powerful AI algorithms that meet security standards and scale with restaurants. AI voice automation technology benefits restaurants by improving order accuracy, labor productivity, operating costs, and service speed. Once implemented, restaurants can get ahead of industry challenges and meet customer demands with superior service.

Presto Voice is coming to a drive-thru near you and can integrate with our vision and touch technologies, providing restaurants with powerful solutions and rich in-store analytics. Presto Voice is coming to a drive-thru near you. To schedule a live demo or learn more about Presto’s products, please contact mktg@presto.com or visit presto.com.