In the age of Siri and Alexa, consumers are becoming very familiar with voice assistants. Restaurant customers aren’t an exception.

Consumer use of speech recognition services has exploded over the last few years. More than 50% of Americans have used a voice assistant. The number of voice assistants will likely grow to 8 billion in 18 months. COVID-19 also greatly accelerated adoption as businesses looked for artificial intelligence (A.I.) powered QR Code solutions.

Highly accurate voice-activated solutions for restaurants are here. It’s only a matter of time before all leading restaurants adopt a form of this innovative technology. Voice technologies offer speed, accuracy, and personalization—everything that a restaurant guest could ask for from a five-star experience.

Empower existing staff with voice assistants.

Imagine if a staff member working the drive-thru had their own assistant who could take a guest’s order with nearly 96% accuracy and remember to cross-sell additional items most of the time. It might be nearly impossible to find a team member like this in the midst of the ongoing labor shortages. Technology can deliver this outcome and not miss a single day of work.

This new AI-powered teammate offers existing staff a sharp boost in productivity while also reducing their stress levels. By automating order entry, voice systems can free up staff to get a head start on meal preparation. The system clearly delights guests too as Chipotle decided to roll out the technology at all of its restaurants at the end of 2019.

Never fail to greet a guest on time.

The crisis of closures from 2020 has quickly morphed into a new one. As guest demand surges back, the industry is still playing catchup in its staffing levels. Instead of being greeted by a friendly voice and warm food, guests are being met with long drive thru lines before even getting the chance to make their order.

Manning a drive-thru window with a voice assistant means that a restaurant will never need to ask a guest who’s pulling up to “hold”. By leveraging an algorithm that makes recommendations smarter every second, voice assistants can quickly reach a meal combination that a guest desires. The technology can even be programmed to promote items with short preparation times when queues are long. Full-service concepts can reap this speed benefit too by powering up order-at-table tablets with the A.I. technology.

Highly accurate order-taking that gets it right the first time.

When we sit down at a restaurant and receive a meal that’s wildly different from what we ordered, it’s hard to first understand how the mistake could have happened. Did we order the right item while pointing at something else on the menu? Did someone in the kitchen have a bad day?

The truth is that the current order-taking process is riddled with chances for errors, whether it’s a simple case of mishearing or a finger slipping at the POS terminal.

But it doesn’t need to be this way. An AI-powered voice assistant is like a superhuman. It memorizes menus much faster than a human can. It can also transmit orders seamlessly to a POS system without needing to do the typing. Rather than worrying about appeasing guests about their wrong orders, staff can rely on a voice system to get the nitty-gritty details right while getting more guests seated.

Elevate the guest experience with conversational A.I.

Gone are the days of voice assistant faux pas. Presto’s voice technology offers an incredible 95%+ accuracy for the entire order. Powered with conversational A.I., it can recognize different voices, adapt to tone, and block out background noise while transcribing the order with 95%+ accuracy. 71% of consumers from a 2019 survey responded that they would be open to restaurants incorporating A.I. into their businesses. So will your concept keep up with guest expectations or get sidelined by the labor shortage? It’s time to move confidently into the future by employing an AI-powered assistant.

About the Author

Dan is a dynamic leader with over two decades of experience in scaling go-to-market organizations. He has led cross-functional teams at Postmates, Yahoo, BrightRoll, VeriSign, and VuMedi. Dan holds a bachelors degree in Business from the Haas School at UC Berkeley.

Contact mktg@presto.com to schedule a media interview or analyst briefing with him.