Earlier in May of 2023, Wendy’s (The Wendy’s Company (NasdaqGS: WEN) CEO NasdaqGS Todd Penegor announce that the fast food chain would start test piloting AI (Artificial Intelligence) drive-thru technology in June 2023 at some locations in the Columbus (Ohio) area.
On CNBC’s Jim Cramer show on May 9, 2023, Penegor stated that the aim of incorporating AI into the drive thru component of the quick service restaurant was to “take out the slowest point in the order process, ordering at the speaker box,” in order to create a more pleasant restaurant experience. He continued to state that the company is trying to “drive the restaurant of the future” and this advancement will allow it to extend store hours and target the late night crowd by saying “We’re going to lean into late night. We know we’ve under-indexed and have an opportunity to drive a lot of growth.”
On August 30, 2023 Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud CEO, on CNBC noted how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping Wendy’s drive thru to “answer and take orders in the quick service restaurant so when you drive up to the drive thru you can talk to an AI model built on large language models (LLMs) that helps the customer place an order. There are over a billion menu combinations that would work with on Wendy’s menu.” He continued to underscore the other factors such as background noise, people changing orders, people using short form dialect including Wendy’s specific terms.
AI is fast becoming a driving force is all facets of the economy including the restaurant and more specifically the drive thru industry where speed, order accuracy, and up-selling are crutial to a successful operation. Orders taken by AI technology and confirmed by the customer are highly accurate and well trained LLMs can increase sales at the drive thru by as much as 20 percent through up-selling It is the accuracy and consistency of the AI technology that leads to higher sales.
About: Sintel Systems is the direct and single-source omni-channel POS solution provider to the fast food drive thru industry including Artificial Intelligent (AI) technology. It launched Sintel.ai which concentrates on bringing AI tech to all parts of it solution with an emphasis on the fast paced drive thru sector. In the fast food drive thru market the objective of implementing AI is to increase order accuracy, speed up orders further, and have a consistent up-sell strategy that will vary to some extent on each order. In order to effectively implement the technology, the technology will learn each drive thrus patters, be able to more specifically respond to each order, and up sell accordingly. From the time of day to the outside temperature nay external factors must also be taken into consideration when incorporating AI into a restaurants drive thru and overall operation
Sintel Systems manufactures top-grade hardware including POS terminals, self-serve kiosks, KDS, and smart hand held POS systems. Its enterprise professional software solutions are specifically designed for quick service (QSR) drive thrus. Sintel Systems portfolio of omni channel solutions also include mobile app, direct-to-POS online ordering, gift/loyalty card network, EMV and contactless payment processing. The expansive array of solutions are accompanied by an all-inclusive technical support plan covering every aspect of POS needs from system configuration, training, continued support, and system upgrades.
Learn more about Sintel’s drive thru technology at DriveThruPOS.com AI technology at Sintel.ai.
