Artificial intelligence (AI) is popping up all over the place. Writers are using it to create content. Car companies are using it to enable self-driving capabilities. Healthcare companies are using it to diagnose and treat serious illnesses.
Next in line is the fast food industry. On the surface, you may not see many ways for AI to disrupt this space, but big-name players like Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., McDonald’s Corp., and Yum! Brands Inc. have a different outlook on the technology.
Chipotle Is Exploring AI
Chipotle has made it clear that AI and automation are two areas that the company is exploring. It has hopes of using the technology to help employees with tedious, time-consuming tasks.
In a recent call with investors, CEO Brian Niccol shared his thoughts on AI.
"We've worked with a lot of our employees to identify what are the tasks that they would love to see us bring automation to, or AI, so that hopefully, the role can become less complicated,” Niccol said. “I think there's just other places in the back of the restaurant where we have the ability to automate, whether it's on the digital makeline or other tasks.”
Last year, Chipotle introduced a robot named Chippy that makes tortilla chips. It’s also exploring the implementation of an AI-powered demand-based cooking system that tells store staff what to cook and when to cook it.
McDonald’s Is Stepping Into The Future
While Chipotle is considered a modern food brand by most, McDonald’s is anything but that. The company has been cooking up its famous hamburgers since 1955, but that doesn’t mean it’s averse to change.
In October 2021, McDonald’s and IBM released a joint statement about their partnership “to further accelerate the development and deployment of its Automated Order Taking (AOT) technology.”
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What About Yum! Brands?
Yum! Brands is known for operating well-known brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. The company has deployed AI and machine learning in approximately 3,000 of its U.S.-based stores. With this technology, the stores can more accurately predict how much food is needed, thus cutting back on waste.
In a late 2022 call with investors, Chief Financial Officer Chris Turner doubled down on this notion, noting that its recommended ordering system “predicts and recommends the quantity of product for a restaurant manager to order each week with the goal of reducing product waste and intra-store transfers of inventory.”
Yum! Brands' online ordering system is also leading the pack, with its chat technology, known as Tictuk, helping the company obtain new customers and boost digital sales.
When discussing Tictuk, Turner added that its success “is evidenced by the chat ordering launch in KFC Mexico, where more than 90% of users who transacted on the chat channel had previously not placed a digital order on other channels.”
Food Automation Startups
While many of these major players are getting involved, there’s also dozens of startups making waves in the space. For investors looking to invest in the next generation of food automation startups, platforms like StartEngine let investors invest in top startups, including the ability to invest in StartEngine itself. For example, retail investors have previously funded startups like Blendid, a robotics company building kiosks that can make smoothies completely autonomously raised over $530,000 on the platform earlier in the year. And Miso Robotics is one of the most funded startups in all of equity crowdfunding for the robotic arms that can be integrated into existing fast food restaurants.
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