Dive Brief:
- Bojangles will extend its drive-thru voice artificial intelligence partnership with Hi Auto for multiple years and expand the technology to 100 more locations by mid-2027, in addition to the 500 where it is already deployed, according to a Thursday press release.
- Hi Auto’s tech processes upwards of 1 million orders per week at Bojangles, with 98% accuracy, according to the press release.
- The extension is a sign of confidence in voice-AI ordering, which has struggled to achieve mass adoption despite deployments by medium-sized brands and tests at industry-leading chains.
Dive Insight:
Bojangles’ decision to expand the voice tech to 100 more stores will mean that a vast majority, about two-thirds, of the chain’s 890 locations will use the tech.
Hi Auto and Bojangles have worked together since 2024, when they launched the drive-thru AI tool they are currently expanding, called Bo-Linda. That tool has succeeded and grown, Richard Del Valle, the chicken chain’s chief information officer and chief of staff, said.
Del Valle described the drive-thru voice order taker as “a rare tool that improves the guest and employee experience at the same time.”
Together, the chain and the tech firm will continue adding to the system’s capabilities. The new agreement includes the deployment of a dynamic upselling feature that adjusts product recommendations based on drive-thru queue length.
Bo-Linda will prioritize quick item upsells during busy periods, while promoting more time-intensive menu items during slack hours. This builds on the tech firm’s existing upsell capability, which is based on daypart, weather and inventory, according to the press release.
Bo-Linda also has a technical fix for confusion common to dual-drive-thrus. The technology now pairs each order with an image of the car that placed it, making it possible for “staff to instantly verify the correct order when lanes merge, reducing mix-ups and keeping service moving during high-traffic periods.”
Drive-thru voice AI has struggled to achieve mass market saturation, thanks to a variety of factors. McDonald’s IBM test struggled with order accuracy, for example. Absurd orders and customer pushback have also plagued systems — the BBC reported last year that an order for 18,000 waters contributed to an AI strategy rethink at Taco Bell.
But major brands remain committed to voice AI as a valuable part of the restaurant industry’s future, both as a labor-saving device and as a consistent upseller connected to brands’ vast stores of ordering and customer data. McDonald’s is building its own voice-AI system, dubbed Archy, as part of its Next strategy. Taco Bell is still rolling out voice-AI through a partnership with Omilia. Dairy Queen has given some franchisees access to Presto’s voice ordering tech.
