Technology

Checkers & Rally's rolls out Spanish AI at drive-thrus

Checkers & Rally's has released Spanish AI at the drive-thru in conjunction with Hi Auto. The brand added English AI to its drive-thrus last year.

Provided by Checkers & Rally's

August 28, 2023 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

Checkers and Rally's, based in Tampa, Florida, introduced voice artificial intelligence to its drive-thrus in 2021 as a pilot program. The early adoption of voice AI was released systemwide in 2022 as a a first-of-its-kind rollout of an AI-based voice assistant.

Minh Le serves as the CIO of Checkers & Rally's. Photo courtesy of Checkers & Rally's

With the rise of off-premise dining, the drive-thru has become an important part of Checkers & Rally's operations. The brand introduced Spanish-ordering AI to its restaurants this month. QSRweb talked to Minh Le, the brand's CIO for Checkers & Rally's, who spoke about the bilingual rollout and how it will increase customer service at Checker's & Rally's 793 stores.

Q.What prompted Checkers & Rally's to implement Spanish AI voice ordering at the drive-thru? Was it customer demand, market research or another factor?

A. It was a bit of both, headlined by our commitment to creating an inclusive environment for our valued customers.

Several of our key markets across the United States have a heavy population of Spanish-speaking individuals. For example, in our home state of Florida, about 70% of Miami Dade's residence is of Hispanic descent. At Checkers & Rally's, we celebrate the diversity of our customer base and strive to make it as easy and accessible as possible for everyone to enjoy our flavorful, craveable food at a great value.

Overall, the decision to implement AI at the drive-thru starts with our team members. The drive-thru is an intense, high-paced job, with employees oftentimes taking new orders while fulfilling and processing previous orders simultaneously. With AI automation at the drive-thru, we're relieving stress for our team members by making their jobs easier and more doable and allowing them to focus on what matters most — the customer experience.

Q.Can you provide examples of how the Spanish AI voice ordering system engages with customers during the ordering process?

A. AI voice automation at the drive-thru engages with customers just like our team members would. The system takes customers' orders, recognizes each item, offers additional upsell suggestions and then sends the order to our Point of Sale for fulfilment.

For example, after greeting a customer in English, if the guests orders a Big Buford in Spanish, the AI voice assistant will recognize the language and complete the rest of the interaction in Spanish. This involves asking them if they'd like to make any modifications or perhaps suggesting a combo meal. The entire process is built to be accurate and conversational.

Photo courtesy of Checkers & Rally's

Q.Could you explain the technology behind the Spanish AI voice ordering system? How does it work to accurately process and interpret customer orders?

A.Checkers & Rally's Spanish AI voice ordering at the drive-thru utilizes Hi Auto's advanced customer understanding engine to deliver a system that is 95% accurate. The customer understanding engine leverages Hi Auto's proprietary Natural Language Processing AI, Speech Recognition, Noise Cancelation and Speaker Separation models as well as natural human supervision in cases where a team member has to jump in and assist with a potential recommendation, for example. Notably, these human supervision cases help the system improve for future interactions as it absorbs these events as additional learnings.

Q.Were there any challenges or considerations in implementing this technology specifically for the drive-thru environment?

A.Checkers & Rally's initially engaged with Hi Auto in early 2022 and have deployed its AI voice technology at the drive-thru at more than 350 corporate and franchised locations. Given we were already familiar with Hi Auto's solution, implementation and onboarding process, we were well prepared to roll out the addition of Spanish voice AI technology. Further, the new capability is easily incorporated into our existing hardware, making the addition seamless. We beta tested the Spanish voice AI technology across five locations for two months and were pleased with its accuracy and positive consumer perception.

One change we have made since implementing AI voice ordering at the drive-thru is adjusting the flow of automated upsells based on daypart. We've modified the AI system to reduce the frequency of upsells during high-volume hours to ensure the technology is operating efficiently and creating a seamless drive thru experience for our guests, just like our team members are training to do in the same situations. Overall, we conducted a study comparing our automated drive-thrus to our traditional ones and found that service times were around 7% faster when AI was handling the orders.

Q. How does the Spanish AI voice ordering system handle accents, dialects and different speaking styles to ensure accurate order processing?

A.The advanced AI technology understands complex menus, half-sentences, diverse accents, detailed requests, as well as mid-order changes made by customers. With an enhanced solution that courses natural language processing and accurate voice recognition, we're successfully meeting our Spanish-speaking customers where they are.

Q.Can customers customize their orders through the AI system, such as requesting modifications or add-ons to their meals?

A. The technology is designed to provide a seamless interaction with customers, allowing for a natural flow of conversation at ordering stations. Just like an interaction with a team member, the AI understands every request, including modifications and add-ons. Still, Checkers & Rally's always has team members ready to jump in and assist should there be a rare disconnect.

Q.How has the AI system been trained to understand a wide range of customer preferences, orders, and variations in language usage?

A.Hi Auto leverages its existing partner locations as well as the tens of thousands of orders collected across its entire customer database to train the system. The data they collect represents a wide variety of examples and combinations, and based on all these examples, the system is able to generalize the vast majority of combinations (language, items ordered, questions, etc.).

At Checkers & Rally's, our AI voice ordering at the menu thoroughly understands our menu and sales goals, efficiently managing dialogue and creating seamless interactions with each customer.

Q. Does Checkers & Rally's have plans to introduce AI voice ordering in other languages apart from Spanish? If so, which languages are being considered and why?

A. Checkers & Rally's remains focused on creating a welcoming culture and inclusive environment for its guests. We will continue to evaluate the needs of our primary markets coupled with outside technology advancements as we consider implementing additional languages to our AI voice ordering system.

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.

An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.

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