Major fast food chains introduce robots and AI one after another… To quickly complete orders with fewer employees

• McDonald’s, Subway and Panera Bread have unveiled new technology for takeout and drive-thru.
• These stores join the many chains that are implementing digital ordering technology in response to staffing shortages.
• Here are 13 restaurant chains that have introduced voice bots, cooking robots, dedicated lanes for mobile ordering, and more.

McDonald’s and Subway recently unveiled new contactless technology for takeout and drive-thru orders.

The two fast-food chains, which boast the largest number of stores in the United States, have also joined the race among restaurant companies betting big on innovations that involve speeding up service and cutting staff as labor shortages continue.

Chipotle, Domino’s and Checkers & Rally’s are using AI-powered voice bots to take orders. Meanwhile, fast-casual chains such as Sweetgreen are introducing drive-thru lanes for fast pick-up of digital orders.

Behind the rapid automation of the restaurant industry is the difficult outlook for the labor market. According to US Labor Department data released on December 2, 2022, the number of workers in the restaurant industry is still 400,000 short of pre-pandemic levels.

Here are 13 chains and restaurants that are deploying technology to augment their workforces and speed service for their digital customers.

Chipotle opened its first Chipotlane store in 2018. The new format store has a dedicated drive-thru lane for mobile orders.The lanes were designed to speed up consumer ordering and delivery driver pick-ups, but chain stores across the country have since copied Chipotle.

When Chipotle opened its 500th store with mobile drive-thru lanes in September 2022, Chipotle demonstrated that Chipotle-equipped stores “can receive more orders and generate greater returns” than traditional stores. , said it has become a profitable store. In 2023, the company plans to have Chipotlean in 80% of its planned 255-285 new stores.

In mid-November 2022, fast-casual chain Sweetgreen opened its first store with a drive-thru.The salad chain calls this new design feature “Sweetlane.”

In June 2022, chicken fast-food chain Chick-fil-A announced it had begun testing drive-thru express lanes.In stores with express lanes, customers using the mobile app will be able to pick up their orders in the express lane instead of the traditional drive-thru lane.

Tech companies like ConverseNow are rapidly evolving how AI-powered virtual assistants automate the process of taking phone orders.Converse Now technology is used in more than 1,250 stores, including Domino’s Pizza and Fazoli’s

Checkers & Rallies has announced that it has become one of the first major food service companies to deploy an AI-powered voice assistant.Voice AI is in operation at 280 of Checkers & Rally’s 803 stores

Taco Bell’s latest drive-thru innovation aims to speed up service. In June 2022, the company opened a new store, Taco Bell Defy, in Minnesota with four drive-thru lanes.This store has dedicated lanes for mobile orders, like Chipotlane

Fast-casual chain Panera Bread will begin testing AI-powered drive-thru technology at two stores in upstate New York in the fall of 2022.Tori, an automated bot created by startup OpenCity, is taking orders from drive-thru customers

Fast-food chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen will begin testing drive-thru in April 2022 using the same Open City voice bot, Tori, as Panera Bread.Popeyes says the bot has sped up service by 20% and boosted drink sales by 150% as Tori automatically recommends high-margin items like sodas, sides and desserts. said to have

Burger King’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International, recently opened a delivery-focused food hall in Miami, Florida.The food hall will serve food from multiple chains, including Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, all in one central kitchen.

Cairo Food Hall has kiosks for walk-in orders and no cash registers

On December 1, 2022, McDonald’s opened a store in Texas with Order Ahead Lane, where digital orders are delivered to a conveyor belt and picked up by a driver.

In September 2022, sandwich chain Subway installed its first driverless smart refrigerator inside the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). The refrigerator is AI-powered and stocked with prepackaged sandwiches.Subway says customers will be able to talk directly to the smart refrigerator and ask about the items inside.

Chili’s Grill & Bar uses a high-tech grill programmed to program and automate cooking times for burgers, steaks, chicken and salmon.A medium-done or “pink-centered” burger will be ready in about 50 seconds on this grill.

In December 2021, Shake Shack opened its first drive-thru store in Maple Grove, Minnesota.One of these lanes is dedicated to picking up mobile orders.

Source: Restaurant Dive

Chipotle began testing an AI-powered voice assistant for phone ordering in early 2018, but it’s also innovating in the kitchen. In 2022, the company began testing Chippy on Miso Robotics’ tortilla chip-making robot.