Fast food company Yum Brands is aiming to implement artificial intelligence (AI) across its restaurant operations.
The parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit Burger Grill will spend $21 million on “digital, technology and innovation capabilities” in 2023, up from $11 million a year earlier, according to the Wall Street Journal ( WSJ) reported on Monday. 1).
One of the resources the company is investing in is a mobile app for restaurateurs called SuperApp, according to the report. Yum Brands is currently testing generative AI capabilities to answer employee questions. This eliminates the need for employees to look at training materials or work through the app's interface.
The company is also looking to expand the app's functionality to help order food, schedule shifts and train employees through augmented reality, the report said.
According to the report, Yum Brands is also experimenting with voice AI to take customer orders at drive-thrus, image recognition AI to count cars waiting at drive-thrus, and digital tools to manage kitchen appliances. It is said that there is
Currently, about 45% of the company's orders are made digitally, according to the report.
According to the report, Yum Brands is leveraging AI behind the scenes to recommend consumable orders based on inventory and sales data, optimize menu offerings and pricing based on customer data, and create personalized customer It is said that the company is offering a wide range of offers.
According to the report, Yum Brands is making these investments to increase sales and reduce costs as customers prefer digital ordering and drive-thrus, labor costs rise and generative AI is introduced across industries. It is said that he is going there.
PYMNTS Intelligence found that companies across the retail industry are turning to AI to improve business performance. According to “What Generative AI Has in Store for the Retail Industry,” a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence and AI-ID, 78% of business leaders in this sector rank generative AI as the most influential company in the next 3 to 5 years. We rank it as an emerging technology. .
In another technology development in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space, McDonald's announced in December 2023 that it has partnered with Google Cloud to leverage generative AI and cloud technology to streamline operations and improve the customer experience. did.
