Discover QSR Industry Trends:
AI Drive-Thru Automation

A New, AI-Driven Drive-Thru

Among its many consequences, the COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent demand for quick, convenient ordering experiences that has driven the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry to adopt innovative digital solutions. AI plays a huge role in this trend. As the Chief Product Officer at SoundHound AI, a leading AI provider for QSRs, rightfully stated, integrating AI is “the new standard” for successful restaurants, essential to more efficient, accurate, and personalized customer experiences.

QSR leaders looking to stay ahead of competition understand the value of AI. As the element of service most central to customer experience and the main producer of QSR transactions and revenue, the drive-thru is acutely positioned to thrive from AI-driven innovation.

In 2025, leveraging AI is transforming the drive-thru, increasing order throughput and accuracy to combat long wait times, spur customer satisfaction, and boost QSR growth. Ultimately, convenience is the name of the QSR game, and making drive-thru technology more efficient with the help of AI is a guaranteed fast-track to support success.

The Technology Behind Drive-Thru Automation

AI-powered drive-thru automation harnesses voice AI and predictive data analytics to optimize order personalization and accuracy across all channels. It uses speech recognition and Natural Language Processing to understand the context of spoken words and generate accurate responses based on human input. Moreover, predictive analytics allows it to learn from previous customer orders for a more individualized experience.

When implementing voice AI into drive-thru procedures, developers can design solutions with full autonomy, eliminating the need for manual order input and freeing up human workers to focus on efficient and high-quality food preparation. They can make sure to install any hardware necessary for optimal performance and enhance the AI with advanced personalization abilities. Lastly, they can integrate the voice AI with existing POS and KDS systems without requiring changes to existing operating procedures for smooth execution and functionality.

How Drive-Thru AI Voice Ordering is Transforming the QSR Industry

Integrating automation in the fast-food industry has been proven to decrease operational costs by up to 50%, and those benefits only increase when applied to the drive-thru. Drive-thru voice assistants impact customer experience, efficiency, and revenue, enhancing the ability of QSRs to provide more personalized recommendations, clearer communication, and faster service.

Customer Experience

Augmenting drive-thru ordering with AI enables greater personalization, since AI can expertly harness historical customer data to recommend menu items. Moreover, in some cases, AI has been shown to accurately handle over 90% of orders without human intervention, as opposed to 80-85% when accounting for human error.

AI not only increases overall order accuracy, but also reduces wait times, instantly sending accurate orders to POS systems to remove bottlenecks and provide customers with the speedy service they desire. In one study on the impact of drive-thru AI, overall customer satisfaction reached as high as 98% after interacting with voice AI to make their orders.

Greater Efficiency and Revenue

Drive-thru automation accelerates the ordering process for greater efficiency, speeding up drive-thru lanes by as much as 10%. Additionally, AI offers upsells 100% of the time, where humans might hesitate, improving the rate of suggestive selling and menu recommendations to significantly boost revenue. Finally, AI greatly reduces labor costs to increase savings for QSRs.

Drive-Thru Automation Challenges

While the benefits of AI adoption are clear, harnessing them isn’t always the easiest. Resistance to new technology, a demand for human interaction, and AI mistakes can pose challenges for effective drive-thru automation. According to Gartner^®, “in the 2024 Gartner Consumer Behavior in Retail Survey, only half (53%) of consumer respondents cited that QSR brands understand their needs.” In another study, 45% of consumers were resistant to the idea of AI handling their orders.

A partner skilled in voice automation solutions can help QSRs integrate AI for optimal performance, mitigating consumer pushback. Strategies essential to success include ensuring compatibility with POS and cloud-based systems, and meeting appropriate hardware, data security, and customization requirements. For example, compliance with government regulations like the CCPA and GDPR is crucial for credibility and consumer trust.

Real-Life Examples

Many QSRs are already exploring the benefits of this new technology. Starbucks recently integrated a voice-ordering feature into their mobile app, increasing convenience, the number of mobile orders, and customer engagement. As another example, after experimenting with their own GenAI-powered chatbot, FreshAI, Wendy’s is already seeing an order accuracy rate as high as 99% and a 22 second faster service time. Finally, while some companies like McDonalds have experienced challenges with AI implementation—one customer received a bacon-topped ice cream cone because of an AI error—the success of other experiments shows that advanced implementation strategies can keep AI at top performance.

Drive to a New Horizon

The National Restaurant Association reports that 60% of restaurant operators are looking for technology to enhance the customer experience. They need to look no further than AI-driven drive-thru automation for an impactful solution that can increase personalization, accuracy, order count, and speed to boost customer satisfaction.

As the future of drive-thru ordering brings even greater personalization, automation, and multi-channel integration, true AI expertise can mean the difference between trailing behind the crowd and leading it. Chetu’s team of AI specialists can help you drive your QSR to new horizons.

Gartner, 2025 Trends Supporting the Age of AI Automation Across the QSR Industry, 11 November 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Produced & Edited by: Allison Peart