We’ve all gotten food at our favorite fast food restaurant’s drive-thru. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes forever and when we get our order its completely wrong. One company is using AI and Speech Recognition to speed things up and make sure you get the food you wanted.

Conversational AI Taking Orders at Denver Good Times Burgers

If you’re in Denver and happen to hit the drive-thru of Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard, you won’t be placing your order with a human. Instead, you’ll be talking back and forth with artificial intelligence. Created by Denver based company Valyant, the AI will greet the customer, take the order, and then direct them down the line to pick up their food.

To ensure high accuracy, the AI system was built and trained using actual customer recordings. Valyant’s hardware incorporates right into the fast food restaurants existing system and the conversational software is customized for the menu. The company claims that since their fast food AI requires a smaller vocabulary of words to take meal orders, it will have higher accuracy than other voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Home.

Valyant AI Speech Recognition System Will Reduce Wait Times and Cut Down on Errors

Valyant says that their proprietary platform will help streamline ordering, cut down on errors and reduce wait time. There will also be a human-in-the-loop (HITL) on all orders in case any problems arise. We would assume that this would be temporary and just for testing as it would defeat the purpose of using AI if there is a need to employ a human to monitor every order.

“Seconds count in the drive-thru, and if customers see a long line, they’ll often keep driving and look for another restaurant,” said Rob Carpenter, Valyant AI’s founder and CEO, “By improving ordering accuracy and decreasing wait times, our platform improves the customer service experience and allows Good Times to serve more customers more quickly.”

Fast Food AI Will Free Up Human Employees for More Important Tasks

As far as how this will affect human employees, the company says it will free them up to do other things such as payment processing and interacting with customers. It can also fill in if a restaurant is short staffed due to bad weather or a worker calling out sick. Most fast food chains often have trouble filling all of their positions.

“Good Times Restaurants are usually staffed with three employees at breakfast. If there is inclement weather, or if an employee doesn’t show up, Valyant’s platform can truly save the morning,” said Scott Lefever, chief operating officer at Good Times.

Valyant Fast Food AI Receiving High Marks From Customers

Valyant’s patent-pending AI system is still in the testing phase but it’s already receiving high marks from customers. One customer said that the process was very easy and the AI voice was clear and understood everything that they said.

As of now, the fast food AI is only taking orders during breakfast hours at the 2095 S. Broadway location but the restaurant hopes it will eventually be able to use it around the clock. Valyant is also looking to test their conversational system in other restaurants whether they be a national chain or local establishment.

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