AI in fast food: ordering, kitchens and forecasting

Fast-food chains use AI in four places: voice ordering at the drive-thru and on the phone, kitchen robots, sales and labor forecasting, and item suggestions on menu boards, kiosks and apps. An independent operator can buy a version of each today. Phone ordering and forecasting are the easiest to try, because neither needs new equipment in the lane or kitchen.

Where do the big chains use AI?

Use	Chain example, with date	What an independent operator can buy today
Drive-thru voice ordering	Wendy's began piloting FreshAI with Google Cloud in May 2023. Taco Bell's voice AI from Omilia runs at 890+ US restaurants, per Omilia's July 2026 release	Most lane vendors sell to chains and franchise groups. Presto joined the Toast partner ecosystem in September 2026 to reach mid-market and emerging multi-location QSR brands
Phone ordering	Jersey Mike's started SoundHound phone ordering at 50 locations in January 2024	Phone agents that write orders into common POS systems. SoundHound sells a small-business version for calls and orders, and some vendors print monthly prices
Kitchen automation	Chipotle began testing Autocado, which cuts, cores and peels avocados, and a Hyphen-built makeline that assembles bowls and salads, in September 2024	Miso Robotics sells Flippy, a fry-station robot it lists with POS integration; no price on its site
Sales and labor forecasting	Yum! Brands' Byte by Yum platform covers inventory and labor management. In March 2025 Yum announced NVIDIA-powered computer vision for back-of-house labor management and AI reviews of store performance	Lineup.ai lists its Forecasts Only plan at $79 per location per month and Forecasts + Scheduling at $149, with 10% off for an annual plan. Toast's Scheduling Pro shows revenue forecasts built from your own sales history
Personal suggestions on menu boards, kiosks and apps	McDonald's bought Dynamic Yield in March 2019 and used its decision technology in drive-thrus and kiosks in several markets, then sold it to Mastercard in April 2022	Toast's menu upsells prompt add-ons on its kiosk and guest-facing display, and its Toast IQ assistant suggests upsell ideas from your sales data

Some chains build one platform for all of this. McDonald's announced a Google Cloud partnership in December 2023 to put edge computing in thousands of restaurants, watch how equipment performs and apply generative AI. Yum is building its AI into its own Byte by Yum platform. An independent gets the same pieces from separate vendors, usually tied together by the POS.

What does each use need from your restaurant?

Each tool leans on something you already run. Check that part before you book a demo.

Use	What it needs from you	What to test before you pay
Phone ordering	A phone number you control, a clean POS menu and a staff number for transfers	A full order with modifiers, followed from the call to the kitchen ticket
Drive-thru voice ordering	Access to the lane audio, a POS the vendor supports and a way for crew to take over	Orders at the speaker with the engine running, during the lunch rush
Kitchen robots	Floor space, power and ventilation at the station, plus time for install and training	Output at your busiest hour, and daily cleaning time
Forecasting	Months of POS sales history and a schedule you are willing to change	The forecast against actual sales, day by day, for a month
Upsell prompts	Pairings you choose and prices set in the POS	How often guests accept, and whether the prompt slows the order

What has worked, and what has stalled?

Lane voice ordering has had the most public tests. In June 2024, McDonald's said it would end its automated order-taking test with IBM, which ran at about 100 restaurants. Nation's Restaurant News reported that McDonald's had wanted 95%-plus order accuracy before wider use, and that the company still expects voice ordering to be part of its future.

Wendy's kept scaling. By May 2025 it said FreshAI had grown from a pilot in two states in 2024 to a nationwide rollout, handling tens of thousands of orders a day, with Spanish added.

Outside tests show the trade-off. In Intouch Insight's 2025 drive-thru study, AI-enabled lanes at three chains had a service time of 3 minutes 53 seconds against a 4 minute 15 second average. Accuracy on those AI orders was 83% against 87% across the study, and rose to 95% when staff stepped in.

What should an independent operator try first?

1. Count what you lose now. Unanswered calls at the dinner peak, cars that leave the line, and manager hours spent on schedules. Pick the largest.
2. Start where you need no new equipment. Phone ordering runs on your existing number, and forecasting reads your POS sales history.
3. Check your POS first. Each tool in the table needs to read your menu or sales, or write orders back. Ask for your POS and version by name.
4. Get the full price in writing. Per-location fees, hardware, install, contract length and how to leave.
5. Run a short trial with a before-and-after count. Use the same days of the week, and count completed orders, staff take-overs and complaints.
6. Decide who takes over. Name the person who finishes an order or call the AI cannot, and test that handoff before launch.

Maple sells AI phone answering and ordering today. On its pricing page, Voice is $150/month billed monthly or $85/month billed annually, and Pro, which adds phone ordering into supported POS systems, is $350/month billed monthly or $220/month billed annually. Its drive-thru and kiosk units are in early access with a small number of restaurants and are priced per unit, with no public price.

If you are weighing a lane trial against a phone trial, our guide to phone ordering vs drive-thru voice AI walks through the checks for each.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines chain and vendor press releases, vendor product pages, trade news and one mystery-shop study. It does not report a Maple customer result, rank any vendor, or verify vendors' or chains' performance claims.