Taco Bell wants to make fast food even faster — Nvidia says it can help
The US fast-food business is more productive than it’s been in decades — and Taco Bell is betting on AI to stay ahead.
Taco Bell is about to get an AI makeover from one of the biggest names in the game.
Yum! Brands, the owner of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, announced it is teaming up with Nvidia to bring the chip giant’s AI technology to its drive-thrus and restaurant operations — upgrading and expanding Taco Bell’s existing voice AI.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, Nvidia’s AI software will be integrated into Yum’s in-house tech platform, enabling voice assistants to take orders more smoothly, smart cameras to track bottlenecks in real time, and AI analytics to help managers optimize operations.
Yum has already tested the technology at select Taco Bell and Pizza Hut locations, and plans to expand it to 500 restaurants across its four brands in the second quarter. Indeed, Taco Bell could really use the boost.
According to the 2024 QSR Drive-Thru Report, the chain lags its biggest competitors like Wendy’s and McDonald’s, taking one to two minutes longer to complete orders per car — while ranking worst in order accuracy among the 10 major fast-food chains surveyed.
These rivals aren’t slowing down on AI either: Wendy’s is scaling up its voice AI ordering from 100 to 500 to 600 drive-thru locations by year-end. Meanwhile, McDonald’s is planning to use AI across all 43,000 of its stores after scrapping an earlier drive-thru AI trial that struggled with accuracy.
The AI push comes at a time when restaurant labor productivity is soaring in the US, after staying flat for nearly 30 years. According to a new NBER study, fast-food labor productivity jumped over 15% during the pandemic as more customers chose takeout and delivery, spending less time in-store.
