Going from repeated orders to a side of AI speed, Wendy’s is reinventing the drive-thru
Matt A.V. Chaban
Senior Editor, Transform
Piloting cutting-edge generative AI takeout windows in Ohio helps the fast-food leader free workers to focus on customer experience.
When is a Frosty not a Frosty?
When a customer sitting in the drive-thru calls it a chocolate shake or asks for a frappe.
What if you didn’t have to ask a customer “Can you repeat that please? Can you repeat that please?” over and over again, and could serve them with a side of AI instead? Wendy’s is using Google Cloud’s generative AI to create a new way to drive-thru, improving speed and accuracy of orders.
Miscommunication happens, speakers garble speech, and then there’s all the slang customers use for their favorite items. A milkshake to you may be a frappe to your friends from Boston. Or a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger can be a “JBC.” What if you were to roll up to a Wendy’s drive-thru and order a JBC in a Biggie Bag with some nuggets and two shakes?
A human taking the order may understand. They’re part of building the lexicon, and even if they don't get it, they can ask some clarifying questions, like is that a four- or six-piece nuggets? Spicy? What kind of sauce? We don’t have shakes, but how about a strawberry Frosty, that’s only around for a limited time, or a classic chocolate?
For an artificial intelligence chatbot, this kind of back-and-forth is an intensely complicated technical challenge. Especially if there's other ambient noise, which there always is at the drive-thru. Or maybe the customer has a thick accent. These quirks can make it difficult to parse what’s being said — or if that was music coming from the backseat as the kids watch their favorite movie on a tablet. Combined with the endless permutations and evolutions of language, using AI to take orders at the drive-thru would seem like an insurmountable challenge.
Unless you have generative AI that’s been developed over years to understand greater and greater numbers of experiences, contexts, languages, and even slang.
Wendy’s is testing the automation of how orders are taken at the drive-thru with the help of generative AI and Google Cloud. Starting in June, Wendy’s began running a chatbot beta test at a company-owned location in Columbus, Ohio. The goal of this beta is to streamline the drive-thru ordering process by making it easier for employees to fill orders and provide excellent customer service.
Want a Frosty with that? Or even a "frappe?" Gen AI can help understand orders and speed up service.
A Frosty will always be a Frosty, a classic American treat. But now, with the power of generative AI and powerful tools from the cloud, a Frosty can represent a whole new dynamic for how customers interact with one of the most iconic brands in the world. In the process, Wendy’s can transform and streamline its entire operation, enabling employees to better serve customers and dish up the delicious meals it has long been known for.
The Wendy’s name, logo, Frosty, and Biggie are trademarks of Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC and Wendy’s International.
