AI will soon be taking your drive-thru orders at 500 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC locations | FOX 7 Austin
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AI will soon be taking your drive-thru orders at 500 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC locations

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Published  March 25, 2025 2:30pm CDT
Food and Drink
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The Brief

    • Yum! Brands has parnedred with NVIDIA to implement AI drive-thru order-taking and efficiency systems at KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.
    • The company said the AI technology will optimize drive-thru operations, back-end labor, and customer experience through voice automation and real-time analytics.
    • A pilot program is already underway, with plans to expand AI integration to 500 restaurants by the second quarter of this year.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon take fast-food orders at 500 major chains.

Yum! Brands, the parent company of various fast food chains including KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, announced last week that it will be partnering with AI company NVIDIA and accelerating the development of the technology for its restaurants globally.

AI technology developed for Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC

Yum! Brands said the partnership is developing voice-automated order-taking AI agents to advance drive-thru and call center operations with conversational AI that adapts to human speech patterns, understands complex menus and customer preferences to enable a more natural, seamless ordering experience.

AI will also be used for its computers to optimize drive-thru efficiency and back-of-house labor management through real-time analytics and alerts.

What they're saying:

"At Yum!, we have a bold vision to deliver leading-edge, AI-powered technology capabilities to our customers and team members globally," Joe Park, the chief digital & technology officer at Yum! Brands, said in a statement. "We are thrilled to partner with a pioneering company like NVIDIA to help us accelerate this ambition.

According to the company, the goal of Yum!’s digital and technology strategy is to better serve its franchisees, providing them with better, faster, cheaper and safer technology while satisfying consumers and maximizing shareholder returns.  

"NVIDIA's software makes it affordable for even the largest restaurant company to improve operations and customer experiences, proving AI can pay off at every location," said Andrew Sun, the global director of retail and business development at NVIDIA. 

AI will roll out at 500 restaurants

What's next:

Yum! Brands said it has already begun piloting some AI solutions in select Taco Bell and Pizza Hut locations in the United States using the technology. 

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Following a successful pilot, a broader rollout of this technology targeting 500 restaurants across Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC and Habit Burger is planned for the second quarter of this year.

Dig deeper:

Yum! Brands joins other fast-food companies, like McDonald's and Wendy's, that have experimented with AI at its locations.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, and its subsidiaries franchise or operate a system of over 61,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries and territories under the company’s concepts – KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill. 

The Source: The information for this story was provided by Yum! Brands. This story was reported from Los Angeles.

Food and DrinkArtificial IntelligenceU.S.ConsumerNews