Checkers and Rally’s deploys Spanish-speaking drive-thru AI

Dive Brief:

Checkers and Rally’s and Hi Auto have partnered to provide Spanish voice AI ordering at the drive-thru, the companies said Thursday in a press release.
The technology is already at 350 locations following a two-month beta test at five restaurants.
Checkers & Rally’s has previously worked with Presto AI for drive-thru voice ordering at corporate stores and Valyant AI for drive-thru voice ordering at franchised locations.

Dive Insight:

Checkers and Rally's plans to expand the Hi Auto tech to more restaurants nationwide. A handful of franchisees are still using the Valyant AI system, while Presto AI has been acting as a reseller of Hi Auto’s system at Checkers, Checkers and Rally’s wrote in an email. Hi Auto sells its system directly to other customers.

Hi Auto’s bilingual functionality automatically detects the customer’s spoken language and responds in the correct language to take the order. The technology takes customer orders, can recognize each item, upsells and send orders through the point-of-sale system.

Only about 20% of fast food workers are of Hispanic origin, according to Data USA research from 2020, so this tool could help lessen the burden of order-taking on Spanish-speaking staff. The AI can understand “complex menus, partial sentences, diverse accents, detailed requests, as well as mid-order changes,” according to the press release. Hi Auto claims to have a 95% order accuracy rate, as well.

“With the addition of Hi Auto’s Spanish translation capabilities to our AI voice ordering technology at the drive-thru, we’re further enhancing guest interactions, increasing order efficiency and embracing our welcoming culture,” said Minh Le, chief information officer at Checkers & Rally’s.

Other chains have been expanding their drive-thru AI capabilities, too. White Castle partnered with SoundHound earlier this year to bring its voice ordering to 100 drive-thrus. SoundHound’s technology currently recognizes 25 languages, including Spanish, but it’s not available through its drive-thru AI tech at this time. Del Taco is deploying Presto AI at its drive-thrus. CKE partnered with three different drive-thru AI companies earlier this year, and Wendy’s is testing Google’s chatbot at a company-owned restaurant in Ohio.