Dive Brief:
- SoundHound AI is acquiring Allset, an online ordering platform for pickup orders designed to help “consumers and restaurants to bypass the high fees charged by delivery apps,” according to a press release issued Thursday.
- Allset’s personnel will join SoundHound as part of the acquisition. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- SoundHound said the acquisition would speed up the development of a voice-based e-commerce system, and that eventually “includes plans to facilitate voice-enabled food and drink ordering across millions of cars, TVs, and smart devices.”
Dive Insight:
Allset brings with it roughly 7,000 restaurant partners, including Joe & The Juice and Charleys Cheessteaks, according to the press release. Those partners as well as new restaurants that sign up for Allset, will get access to a suite of SoundHound’s voice AI, which the company says can “improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and drive sales.”
For SoundHound, the deal “will bring additional restaurant relationships, engineering skills, and marketplace know-how.”
SoundHound’s ordering technologies function across several channels, including drive-thru, phone, kiosk and mobile app, and the company says it can “understand speech in a range of major languages, learn any restaurant’s menu, process orders directly to the POS, answer customer FAQs, and even upsell add-ons and offer special promotions.” SoundHound said it works with over 10,000 restaurant locations.
Voice ordering is having a moment, as restaurant brands look for ways to reduce labor costs. SoundHound has signed deals with a handful of large operators. Jersey Mike’s began a 50-store pilot of the tech company’s earlier this year. White Castle is in the process of adding SoundHound’s voice AI to 100 drive-thrus.
Despite the technology’s promise, there have been some challenges. Presto Automation, for example, has found it difficult to replace the revenue from its sunsetting order tablet business with revenue from its voice AI tools. McDonald’s is ending its drive-thru voice AI test with IBM, though the Golden Arches did not say why.
