Taco Bell to Implement AI-Powered Voice Ordering in Hundreds of Drive-Thrus by End of 2024

Taco Bell Adding AI Voice Ordering to Hundreds of Drive-Thrus

Taco Bell will add AI voice technology to hundreds of its drive-thrus by year's end. It's part of parent Yum! Brands' plans to integrate voice artificial intelligence (AI) to its stores around the world, the company announced Wednesday (July 31). "The rollout of Voice AI technology in Taco Bell, currently in more than 100 Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus across 13 states, is designed to enhance back-of-house operations for team members and elevate the order experience for consumers," Yum said in a news release. "Benefits include easing task load for team members, improving order accuracy, providing a consistent, friendly experience, and reducing wait times, while driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees." Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Yum's other brands include Pizza Hut and KFC. In addition to the Taco Bell AI integration, five KFCs in Australia are simultaneously testing Voice AI technology in drive-thrus. As PYMNTS wrote last month, AI speech technology is a growing sector, yet it hasn't fully taken off in the restaurant sector so far. McDonald's recently ended its partnership with IBM to develop an AI-powered drive-thru system, choosing to remove the technology from over 100 restaurants. A spokesperson for McDonald's said a voice ordering solution for drive-thrus will be "part of our restaurants' future" and added: "We see tremendous opportunity in advancing our restaurant technology and will continue to evaluate long-term, scalable solutions that will help us make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year." "The fast-food giant's decision highlights both the challenges and opportunities in implementing AI voice-ordering systems amid industry wide labor shortages and the push for streamlined operations," PYMNTS wrote. Other fast-food chains, such as Checkers & Rally's Restaurants Inc., CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc.'s Hardee's and Carl's Jr., and Wendy's Co., are either testing or have implemented similar technology in their drive-thrus. Yum, meanwhile, has increased its investment in digital, technology and innovation to $21 million in 2023, compared to $11 million the previous year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote last week that technology and technology and automation are increasingly crucial tools in addressing staffing shortages in the restaurant section. "As of May, restaurant employment has grown by less than 1% despite high demand. This ongoing staffing crunch is pushing restaurants to rely more on technology and automation, including for payment processing," that report said.

Taco Bell to roll out AI drive-thru ordering in hundreds of locations by end of year

A Taco Bell drive-thru in Walnut Creek, Calif., in 2023.Smith Collection / Gado / Sipa USA via AP file Yum Brands hopes to use artificial intelligence to take down drive-thru orders at hundreds of Taco Bell restaurants by the end of this year. The restaurant company announced on Wednesday that it is expanding its rollout of the tech in the U.S. as it eyes implementing it in drive-thru lanes globally. Yum Brands joins restaurant rivals such as Wendy's and White Castle in betting on voice AI, but its plans are the most ambitious to date. While tech companies may promise that voice AI can speed up service times, reduce labor costs and boost sales through upselling, restaurant companies have taken a more measured approach so far, testing the tech to make sure both its employees and customers enjoy the experience. In June, McDonald's said it would end its trial of Automated Order Taker, an AI technology tested in partnership with IBM. The Chicago-based company now plans to turn to other vendors instead. Yum Brands has moved quickly on its test. In May, executives said Taco Bell would expand its pilot of voice AI from five locations to 30 restaurants in California. Currently, more than 100 Taco Bell restaurants in the U.S. use voice AI. Taco Bell had nearly 7,700 U.S. locations at the end of 2023, according to company filings. Yum Brands said the tech has improved order accuracy, reduced wait times, decreased employees' task load and fueled profitable growth for the restaurant company and its operators. "With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," Yum Brands Chief Innovation Officer Lawrence Kim said in a statement. Five KFC restaurants in Australia are also testing voice AI tech in drive-thrus, Yum Brands said. Yum Brands is expected to report its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

Taco Bell to roll out AI drive-thru ordering in hundreds of locations by end of year

Gastonia, North Carolina, Taco Bell Mexican fast food restaurant and drive thru at dusk. Yum Brands hopes to use artificial intelligence to take down drive-thru orders at hundreds of Taco Bell restaurants by the end of this year. The restaurant company announced on Wednesday that it's expanding its rollout of the tech in the U.S., as it eyes implementing it in drive-thru lanes globally. Yum joins restaurant rivals like Wendy's and White Castle in betting on voice AI, but its plans are the most ambitious to date. While tech companies may promise that voice AI can speed up service times, reduce labor costs and boost sales through upselling, restaurant companies have taken a more measured approach so far, testing the tech to make sure both its employees and customers enjoy the experience. In June, McDonald's said it would end its trial of Automated Order Taker, an AI technology tested in partnership with IBM. The Chicago-based company now plans to turn to other vendors instead. Yum has moved quickly on its test. In May, executives said Taco Bell would expand its pilot of voice AI from five locations to 30 restaurants in California. Currently, more than 100 Taco Bell restaurants in the U.S. use voice AI. Taco Bell had nearly 7,700 U.S. locations at the end of 2023, according to company filings. Yum said the tech has improved order accuracy, reduced wait times, decreased employees' task load and fueled profitable growth for the restaurant company and its operators. "With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," Yum's Chief Innovation Officer Lawrence Kim said in a statement. Five KFC restaurants in Australia are also testing voice AI tech in drive-thrus, Yum said. Yum is expected to report its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

Taco Bell is expanding AI drive-thru to hundreds of U.S. locations

Taco Bell is expanding its use of voice AI technology to include hundreds of the Mexican-themed chain's drive-thru locations by the end of the year, parent company Yum Brands said on Wednesday. Already in use at roughly 100 Taco Bell eateries in 13 states, the company's rollout plans come after testing the technology for about two years. Benefits include improved order accuracy, cutting wait times and "providing a consistent, friendly experience," according to the company, which operates 7,400 stores across the U.S. "With over two years of fine-tuning and testing the drive-thru voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," Lawrence Kim, Yum's chief innovation officer, stated in a news release. KFC, also owned by Yum, is trying out the technology in five locations in Australia, the statement noted. Last year, Yum's digital sales approached $30 billion, with more than 50% coming through digital channels as of the first quarter of 2024, according to the company, which added that its digital business has more than doubled since 2019. Taco Bell's move to broaden its AI footprint comes as a big-name competitor encountered difficulties deploying automated voice ordering in a pilot run in partnership with IBM. McDonald's last month said it was pulling the plug on the AI ordering technology the fast-food chain had been testing at more than 100 U.S. drive-thrus in the wake of customer complaints about orders. One of multiple viral videos showed an AI cashier mistakenly adding nine sweet teas to a TikTok user's order.

Hundreds of Taco Bell drive-thrus are set to be AI-run by the end of this year

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Voice AI is already installed in more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thrus across 13 states, according to a Wednesday press release. The company said its goal is for the technology to eventually be a part of all Taco Bell franchises. The company said its voice AI uses a "holistic approach that leverages feedback, data, and insights to enhance consumer relationships with an emphasis on intuitive, user-friendly technology to create a seamless ordering experience." Yum! Brands said the tech would not replace any of its current workers, While other fast food chains are similarly experimenting with artificial intelligence, Yum! Brands has taken an expedited approach to piloting the technology. In May, the company said it would expand testing of voice AI from five to 30 stores in California in the second quarter. Meanwhile, McDonald's -- one of Taco Bell's major competitors -- announced last month that it was ending its AI testing at more than 100 drive-thrus following customer complaints about technology mishaps, many of which were captured in viral videos. The company said it would turn to new tech vendors as it continues to explore artificial intelligence. In recent years, other chains, like Wendy's, Chipotle, and Wingstop, have increasingly turned to automation tools like AI and robotics to combat post-pandemic labor shortages in the restaurant industry. Yum! Brands on Wednesday cited several benefits of the technology, including easier task loads for team members, improved order accuracy, reduced wait times, and boosted sales. "With over two years of fine-tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," Lawrence Kim, chief innovation officer at Yum! Brands said in the press release. A 2023 report from restaurant publication QSR Magazine found that Taco Bell has the fastest drive-thru of several popular fast food chains for the third year in a row. The parent company said it sought input from its Taco Bell franchisees and "collaborated closely" with the stores to ensure AI benefits both team members and consumers. Five Australian KFC restaurants, also owned by Yum! Brands, will also adopt the AI tech in their drive-thrus, the company said.

Taco Bell adding AI order takers to hundreds of drive-thrus

Yum Brands, which owns the Mexican fast-food chain, has announced plans to expand its Voice AI technology to "hundreds" of stores around the country by the end of the year. And it's already thinking of a global expansion of AI order-takers. Right now, more than 100 Taco Bell locations in 13 states rely on AI to take customer orders at the drive-thru. Company officials say that has resulted in improved order accuracy, shorter wait times and higher profits. "Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy," said Lawrence Kim, chief innovation officer at Yum! Brands in a statement. "With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction." Human workers, the company says, will be freed up to focus on other tasks, ranging from interacting with guests who opt to order from the restaurant counter to preparing food. Yum! Brands has also started testing Voice AI technology in drive-thrus at five KFC restaurants in Australia. Taco Bell's embrace of AI order-taking at the drive-thru comes just over a month after McDonald's ended its two-year partnership with IBM, which saw it testing AI to take people's voice orders at drive-thru kiosks. The company had been testing the AI at over 100 restaurants, but said it plans to remove the systems by the end of July. Despite ending that test (and several TikTok videos showing the AI get the order wrong), McDonald's says it expects to continue rolling out AI in drive-thrus in the future. "As we move forward, our work with IBM has given us the confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants' future," a spokesperson told Fortune last month. "We see tremendous opportunity in advancing our restaurant technology and will continue to evaluate long-term, scalable solutions that will help us make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year."

A major change is coming to Taco Bell drive-thrus

After two years of testing AI voice technology in a number of its drive-thrus, Taco Bell hopes to have the AI ordering at hundreds of its US locations by the end of this year. There may soon be one fewer person standing between you and your Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Taco Bell is set to expand the use of artificial intelligence voice technology in its drive-thrus to hundreds of US locations by the end of this year, parent company Yum! Brands said Wednesday. The move means that when users pull up to place their order at a Taco Bell, there's a good chance they will be talking to a computer, rather than a human employee, on the other end. Taco Bell isn't the only fast-food chain to test having customers talk to AI in its drive-thrus in an effort to free up employees to spend more time on other tasks and boost sales. But Taco Bell's expansion comes after a prominent rival had trouble trying to use similar technology. McDonald's said last month it was pulling the plug on the AI ordering technology that it was testing at more than 100 US drive-thrus, after customers complained about the system getting their orders wrong. Viral videos showed customers ending up with absurd orders as a result of the McDonald's AI drive-thru technology, like the woman who didn't really want nine sweet teas or the girl shouting "stop" at the screen as it tallies up more than two dozen orders of chicken nuggets. That AI struggled to perform well in a drive-thru setting isn't totally surprising. The technology needs to be trained on huge sets of voice samples to correctly understand the full range of human accents and speech patterns, and noisy environments can throw off AI speech recognition tools. And we all know the frustrating experience of being on the other end of a poorly functioning computer assistant, desperately wishing we could just talk to a human. But Lawrence Kim, chief innovation officer at Yum! Brands, told CNN he's confident that his company's technology -- which is already in use at 100 Taco Bell locations across 13 states -- won't have the same issues. Instead, he said, the technology has actually led to greater ordering accuracy, as well as happier employees and shorter drive-thru wait times. "We are confident that we've approached this the right way," Kim said in an interview, adding that it's taken two years of testing, gathering employee and customer feedback and improving the technology to get to this point. Yum! Brands did not provide data on the improvements it said it's seen thanks to the AI ordering, beyond noting that it now earns $30 billion in sales (about 50% of its total revenue) from digital-first ordering channels. Kim declined to specify which technology partners Yum! has worked with to develop the AI ordering tool. Kay-sah-dee-ya, Kay-sah-dill-uh One thing the company has learned along the way: Not every customer uses the same words to order a specific item, nor pronounces them the same way. For example, Kim said, the company had to train its AI model to understand not only the correct pronunciation of "quesadilla" (kay-sah-dee-ya) but also the incorrect, but still common, "kay-sah-DILL-uh." And if there are issues or confusion, a Taco Bell employee is still always listening on the other end of the ordering system with the ability to intervene. Kim also denied that AI ordering technology would replace human jobs, a growing concern around all manner of new AI tools. "Voice AI does not replace any team members," Kim said, adding that the technology is instead designed to "enhance the team member experience so they can focus on other tasks that are a priority for them." Still, Kim said he does think AI could ultimately be implemented into other areas at Taco Bell and the company's other chains, which also include Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit Burger Grill. "I believe the applications for voice AI are boundless," Kim said. "The technology is emerging and evolving so very quickly that we ... as an innovation team as well as a technology team are continuously evaluating what could be next."

Taco Bell steers into AI drive-thru ordering - Fast Company

Taco Bell is embracing the use of artificial intelligence voice technology in the drive-thru lane. On Wednesday, Yum! Brands, Taco Bell's parent company, said it would expand the use of AI to hundreds of U.S. locations by the end of 2024. Around 100 Taco Bell's in 13 states already use the technology. So, now when you head to the drive-thru for your Baja Chicken Chalupa (personal fave) or your Mexican pizza, more than likely, you'll be placing your order with a robot, instead of a real fast-food worker. "Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy," said Lawrence Kim, Yum! Brands' chief innovation officer, in a press release. We're expanding and accelerating our AI capabilities, like Voice AI, to deliver leading-edge technologies to our franchisees and enhance the consumer and team member experience." Kim also revealed that the brand has spent a long time preparing for the switch to AI ordering systems. "With over two years of fine-tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction."

Taco Bell Wants AI to Take Your Drive-Thru Order

Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands announced on Wednesday that the fast food chain will install AI voice ordering systems in "hundreds" of its US locations by the end of the year. The company has been rapidly expanding the AI pilot program in recent months. Executives announced in May that the initial 5-restaurant test would be increased to 30 throughout the state of California. According to CNBC, out of the 7,700 or so Taco Bell restaurants operating in the US, more than 100 locations have already installed the voice AI (plus another five locations in Australia). "With over two years of fine-tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," Yum Brands Chief Innovation Officer Lawrence Kim said in a statement. The technology is touted as being able to speed up service times, boost order accuracy, reduce labor costs and decrease employees' task load, as well as increase sales via upselling. "Voice AI does not replace any team members," Kim told CNN. The technology is instead meant to "enhance the team member experience so they can focus on other tasks that are a priority for them." Yum Brands is far from the first fast food chain to dabble with replacing humans with digital order takers, thereby freeing up them to perform more meaningful tasks. In 2023, Wendy's teamed up with Google Cloud to develop and implement Wendy's FreshAI, a machine learning system designed, "to overcome the challenges traditional AI could not solve in the drive-thru, including understanding casual conversation with customers and handling Wendy's menu full of customizations and configurations," per a December 2023 blog post by Wendy's CTO Matt Spessard. In it, he notes that, "there are more than 200 billion ways to order a Dave's Double." The company initially tested its AI for multiple months at four locations in the company's hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The pilot program found that service times, at least at one location, were 22 seconds faster than the average for the local market, and the system took accurate orders between 86 and 99 percent of the time, depending on whether human team members intervened when the AI got stuck. McDonald's has also tried to implement voice AI at the drive-thru, but those efforts have been on hold since June. The fast food chain had teamed with IBM to deploy its Automated Order Taker system, a voice AI that was installed in more than 100 McDonald's locations throughout the US. However, the AI was not popular with customers, who complained that it kept getting orders wrong. Two prominent examples from social media show one customer struggling to not receive nine sweet teas and another shouting "stop" at the screen when mistakenly offered two dozen orders of chicken nuggets. For such voice AI systems to operate efficiently, they need to be trained on massive datasets that include multiple languages, accents and speech patterns, as well as be able to discern a customer's speech above the ambient street noise. Kim, explained to CNN that this can be a challenging task, especially when their AI must be trained to understand "quesadilla" as both "kay-sah-dee-ya" and the incorrect "kay-sah-DILL-uh." Source: CNN

Taco Bell's drive-thru AI might take your next order

Your next Taco Bell drive-thru order might be handled by AI -- and an AI may have helped you get a Chalupa already. Parent company Yum! Brands has been testing its "Voice AI" technology at more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thru in the US, and now Yum! aims to bring the technology to "hundreds" of Taco Bell stores by the end of the year, according to a press release. Yum! is pitching the AI tech as a way to ease task load for staffers, improve order accuracy, and reduce wait times -- all, of course, while "driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees." But the fast food industry's experiments with AI have had mixed results so far: while Wendy's has been thrilled with its tests, McDonald's recently pulled back its plans. There are more than 7,400 Taco Bell stores in the US, so this will still be a small rollout. The original tests at more than 100 stores have been going on for around two years, Bloomberg reports. Yum! is also bringing Voice AI to five KFC restaurants in Australia.

Taco Bell Is Adding AI Ordering at Hundreds of US Drive-Thrus

Taco Bell is doubling down on AI-powered drive-thrus even as some of its competitors take a step back from the technology. The Mexican-inspired chain is planning to roll out a voice AI system to hundreds of US restaurants by the end of the year, according to a statement Wednesday. The company has tested the technology, which is currently in about 100 restaurants in 13 states, for about two years. The chain declined to specify exactly how many of its 7,400 US stores would get the platform.

Taco Bell drive-thrus will become less human with latest change

Since the late 1940s, drive-thrus have grown to become a convenient staple in the restaurant industry across the nation. For decades, consumers have enjoyed the option of ordering food at their favorite restaurant without leaving the comfort of their cars. While restaurant employees have historically handled drive-thru orders while maintaining face-to-face communication with customers, that may soon become a thing of the past. Related: White Castle makes a change McDonald's just abandoned Taco Bell, which is owned by Yum Brands (YUM) , is the latest fast-food chain to hop on a startling new trend in the restaurant industry that is slowly cutting human connection out of the picture. The company just announced that it will be expanding voice artificial intelligence technology at hundreds of its restaurants in the U.S. by the end of 2024. This means that drive-thru customers at these locations will be talking to a computer instead of an actual human being when they order their food. "Tapping into AI gives us the ability to ease team members' workloads, freeing them to focus on front-of-house hospitality," said Dane Mathews, Taco Bell's chief digital and technology officer in a press release. "It also enables us to unlock new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers." Taco Bell claims that the voice AI technology has already been implemented in over 100 restaurants in the U.S. across 13 states. The company currently operates over 7,000 locations nationwide. In the press release, Taco Bell states that the technology is "intuitive" and uses a "holistic approach that leverages feedback, data, and insights" to make the ordering process "seamless" for customers. Consumers are skeptical of the technology The move from Taco Bell comes after it was revealed last month that McDonald's has opted to remove AI technology at its drive-thrus. The decision from McDonald's came after the technology at its locations received mixed reviews from customers, with some even taking to TikTok to show how the technology botched their orders. Related: McDonald's new $5 Meal Deal isn't going as planned (so far ...) For example, in a viral TikTok video, a woman revealed that when she tried to remove a Diet Coke from her McDonald's order at a drive-thru that used the technology, it ended up replacing the item with nine sweet teas, which is not what she asked for. In a recent interview with CNN, Yum Brands Chief Innovation Officer Lawrence Kim claimed that the technology won't have similar speech recognition issues. "We are confident that we've approached this the right way," Kim said in the interview. More food and dining: He also said that after two years of testing and improving the technology, it can accurately take orders and cut drive-thru wait times. Taco Bell's latest change follows other restaurant chains such as White Castle and KFC, which have both recently expanded AI at their drive-thrus. As restaurants continue to expand their use of the technology, many consumers are struggling to welcome it with open arms. According to a recent survey from the National Restaurant Association, 16% of restaurant operators plan to invest in AI, including voice recognition, in 2024. The survey also found that only 33% of fast-food customers are open to ordering food by talking to an AI-generated persona on a video screen at a limited-service restaurant. Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

Taco Bell's drive thru is about to look much different

The first rule about rate cuts is you don't talk about rate cuts, strategist says The Tex-Mex chain plans to expand the use of AI voice technology across its U.S. drive-thru locations by the end of 2024, the chain's parent company said in a statement on Wednesday. The AI voice assistant is already being used in more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thrus across 13 states. "With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," said Lawrence Kim, Yum! Brands' chief innovation officer, in the company's release. Kim said Yum! Brands has been working closely with Taco Bell franchisees and incorporating their feedback so that the AI voice tool is something that's worthwhile, and that can make the consumer and team member experience better. The duo boasted that some of the perks of using the AI voice assistant is that it lightens the load for staff, makes orders more accurate, keeps things consistent and friendly, and speeds up service - all while helping Taco Bell and its franchisees make more money. Getting a bucket of fried chicken at KFC could soon look the same, at least at some locations. The chain, considered to be the world's second largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, is trying out similar technology in five of its drive-thurs in Australia. The technology is being received by customers and staff alike, Yum! Brands said. The Louisville, Kentucky-based parent company hopes it can launch the AI voice tool in drive-thrus at its other brands (like Pizza Hut) globally in the future too.

Taco Bell announces an expansion to its voice AI initiative in the U.S.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) announced on Wednesday the expansion of Voice AI technology across Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the U.S. The AI initiative is being aimed at hundreds of Taco Bell stores by the end of 2024. Currently, Voice AI technology is being used at more than 100 Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus across 13 states. The AI initiative is designed to enhance back-of-house operations for team members and elevate the order experience for consumers. Benefits called out by the restaurant company include easing task load for team members, improving order accuracy, providing a consistent, friendly experience, and reducing wait times. For investors, the AI initiative is anticipated to help drive profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands, and their franchisees. "Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy," stated Yum! Brands Chief Innovation Officer Lawrence Kim. "We're expanding and accelerating our AI capabilities like Voice AI to deliver leading-edge technologies to our franchisees and to enhance the consumer and team member experience. With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction." In addition to the expansion of Voice AI across Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus, five KFC restaurants in Australia are simultaneously testing Voice AI technology in drive-thrus, which is also being positively received by consumers and restaurant team members. The restaurant sector has seen mixed early results in general with the use of AI at drive-thru windows.

Yum! Brands to Expand Voice AI Technology to Hundreds of Taco Bell U.S. Drive-Thru Locations in 2024, with a Future Vision to Bring the Technology to Its Brands' Drive-Thrus Around the World

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) announced today the expansion of Voice AI technology across Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the U.S., targeting hundreds of stores by the end of 2024. The Company aspires to implement Voice AI technology in drive-thrus at its brands globally in the future. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240731239498/en/ The rollout of Voice AI technology in Taco Bell, currently in more than 100 Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus across 13 states, is designed to enhance back-of-house operations for team members and elevate the order experience for consumers. Benefits include easing task load for team members, improving order accuracy, providing a consistent, friendly experience, and reducing wait times, while driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees. "Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy," said Lawrence Kim, Chief Innovation Officer, Yum! Brands. "We're expanding and accelerating our AI capabilities like Voice AI to deliver leading-edge technologies to our franchisees and to enhance the consumer and team member experience. With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction." Yum! Brands and Taco Bell have collaborated closely, including incorporating input from Taco Bell franchisees, so that Voice AI benefits both team members and consumers. This technology takes advantage of Taco Bell's strong drive-thru customer experience ecosystem, which is powered by digital menu boards, Yum! Brands' propriety Poseidon POS system and the next generation of the Taco Bell Rewards loyalty program which the brand is excited to integrate later this year. The Voice AI technology uses a holistic approach that leverages feedback, data, and insights to enhance consumer relationships with an emphasis on intuitive, user-friendly technology to create a seamless ordering experience. "Innovation is ingrained in our DNA at Taco Bell, and we view Voice AI as a means to improve the team member and consumer experiences," said Dane Mathews, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Taco Bell. "Tapping into AI gives us the ability to ease team members' workloads, freeing them to focus on front-of-house hospitality. It also enables us to unlock new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers." In addition to the expansion of Voice AI across Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus, five KFC restaurants in Australia are simultaneously testing Voice AI technology in drive-thrus, which is also being positively received by consumers and restaurant team members. Yum! Brands has been both acquiring and creating technologies, and in select cases working with leading partners, powered by its global scale that enable and accelerate easy experiences, operations and insights for consumers and team members while driving profitable growth for franchisees. The Company has made massive strides in scaling its proprietary digital and AI-driven ecosystem in partnership with franchisees, equipping them with distinctive capabilities to differentiate its brands. 2023 marked a significant milestone for successfully scaling Yum! Brands' suite of proprietary technologies globally. In 2023, Yum!'s digital sales approached $30 billion with over 50% of its sales coming through digital channels as of the first quarter of 2024. The Company's digital business has more than doubled since 2019, demonstrating the power of its digital ecosystem and capabilities to meet changing consumer needs around the world. About Yum! Brands Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, and its subsidiaries franchise or operate a system of over 59,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries and territories under the company's concepts - KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and the Habit Burger Grill. The Company's KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut brands are global leaders of the chicken, Mexican-style food, and pizza categories, respectively. The Habit Burger Grill is a fast casual restaurant concept specializing in made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches and more. In 2024, Yum! was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America for the eighth consecutive year, and the company was recognized among TIME Magazine's list of Best Companies for Future Leaders, Newsweek's list of America's Most Responsible Companies and USA Today's America's Climate Leaders. Yum! also received widespread recognition in 2023, including being listed on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index; and Forbes' list of America's Best Employers for Diversity. In addition, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut brands were ranked in the top five of Entrepreneur's Top Global Franchises Ranking for 2023.