The fast food industry intensifies its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, with market pillars, especially McDonald’s,, Yum! Marks And Wendy Expanding their deployment of technology to rationalize operations, improve profitability and improve customer experience.
Last week, the president and chief executive officer of McDonald Chris Kempczinski Cited the adoption of AI among its three main trends in 2025 for the fast food industry. (The other two were proteins and sauces.)
“Everyone talks about AI and AI certainly has a lot of applications in our business,” he said on Instagram. “We have a number of teams examining how we can use AI to provide an even better experience for our customers and better experience for our crew members.”
According to a December survey Restaurant operators and financiers by TD Bank, 42% said that AI and automation will have the greatest impact on the catering industry in 2025. It is only the second after a drop in interest rates, at 46%.
At McDonald’s, the chain reorganizes the technological imprint in its 43,000 restaurants, in particular by allowing the kitchen equipment to connect to the Internet, deploy drivers powered by AI and provide AI tools to its managers, CIO CIO Brian Rice said to Wall Street Journal, by Wednesday March 5) report.
The kitchen equipment will have sensors that will feed the data in its on -board computer system – where the data is processed and analyzed in the store – to give the franchisees a real -time view of the operations of their restaurants.
McDonald’s also plans to use computer vision with its store cameras to ensure that commands are correct before being given to customers. He also thinks of creating an “generative virtual manager” who can manage administrative tasks such as quarter -work planning.
Learn more: McDonald’s sees an increase in loyalty in the middle of the challenges in the gains of the fourth quarter
Learn early errors
McDonald’s will once again try the deployment of an AI vocal control system to its features. This time he joins forces with Google Cloud. A similar experience with IBM Discounted with bad dinner commands – like Bacon ice cream – as well as kill the agreement.
Last fall, Domino was continued by allegedly using registered telephone orders to form her vocal assistant AI, according to Bloomberg Law. The trial was abandoned in January.
Wendy’s AI also took a difficult start, with guests complaining of its beginnings.
“It is horrible,” said a dinner on Reddit. “I can speak loud and clear and it would always take 3x to understand what I say. The AI would continue to cut me in the middle of the sentence. »»
But AI improves. “One thing I like, it continues to improve,” said Wendy CEO Kirk Tanner said analysts in the last profit call. “I put it to the test almost three or four times a week. He understands what to ask and the precision is definitively improving. »»
See also: Wendy’s purchase cooperative to deploy supply chain solutions powered by Palantir
Yum!, The latest updates of Wendy’s AI
Yum! Marks, the parent of Kfc,, Taco-cloche And Hut pizza,, February 6 announcement An integrated AI platform entitled “Byte by Yum! to be deployed in its global locations. The platform aims to optimize restaurant operations, improve order accuracy and increase dinner satisfaction.
The byte uses AI to improve online and mobile command, points of sale systems, optimization of cooking and delivery, work management and training of team members. It can predict inventory more precisely and contribute to accelerating promotional deployments, while its effectiveness helps the retention of employees.
The American locations of Taco Bell use an byte for integrated orders and back efficiency gains, while the locations of the pizza hut in the United States have seen improved delivery times and control of the controls via the kitchen system powered by AI. The platform is already used in 25,000 international locations.
Meanwhile, Wendy’s widens Freshai, its pilot control system of car control system powered by AI, from 100 to 500 to 600 locations in 2025. Tanner said The technology has increased the average amount spent by customers, as AI suggests additional items to order. Higher labor efficiency has also added 80 base points to the margins of restaurants in global locations compared to a year ago.
The plan is part of a wider digital transformation of Wendy, including digital menu tables, AI kiosks and backend automation tools.
More like that: Brands Yum: Marketing campaigns powered by AI stimulate customer engagement
Transformation time for fast food
It is not a surprise that fast -service restaurants (QSR) extend their adoption of the AI.
“Restaurants take advantage of AI and automation to improve operations and raise customer and employee experiences,” said Anup PRASADmain vice-president and head of the general public commercial unit to Awarea global IT services company that recently extended Its partnership with McDonald’s.
“These technologies are essential to improve forecasting, take up labor challenges, optimize supply chain monitoring, improve food security and reduce waste through better demand forecasting,” Prasad told Pymnts.
Sam JonesA partner at Torch capital whose offers include an IPO for Sweetgreen restaurants, added that it saw “important” opportunities for fast food chains to rationalize operations, reduce general costs and improve customer experiences through the intelligent adoption of AI.
“Potential use cases are infinite in an industry where profitability is so closely aligned to rationalize operating expenses,” Jones in Pymnts told. “There are also major opportunities to take advantage of AI to stimulate high -level growth and improve customer experiences.”
Jones is considering a future where applications and fast food kiosks will feel more like “personal assistants, suggesting exactly what you want before even asking, derived from previous orders, food restrictions and real -time factors such as the time of day” and other data.
“We are still very in the first stages of this adoption, most companies still determining where in the value chain, they see the greatest opportunity for AI to improve their operations,” said Jones.
