# What restaurant AI vendors do with call recordings and order data

> Canonical: https://maple.inc/blog/ai-restaurant-data-privacy

*By Maple Team · Published 2026-09-28*

What voice AI vendors' own privacy policies and terms say about recording, keeping and training on guest audio, what recording law says, and what to ask.

Most of the restaurant voice AI vendors in this guide say they record what guests say and keep order details. Presto, SoundHound and Maple say in their own documents that they use recordings to improve their speech systems, and Presto says it keeps voice recordings for up to two years. The terms usually leave it to the restaurant to tell guests and get any consent the law requires.

This guide sets out what five vendors and Maple say in their own privacy policies and customer terms, what the recording laws say in their own text, and the questions to settle before you sign. It is not legal advice. For the broader launch questions, see our [one-lane pilot worksheet](https://maple.inc/blog/ai-drive-thru-pilot-checklist) and the section on recordings in [remote drive-thru order taking](https://maple.inc/blog/remote-drive-thru-order-taking).

## What do vendors say they collect and keep?

Each row comes from the vendor's own privacy policy, FAQ or terms. Your contract may add to what a policy says.

    Vendor and document What it says it collects Use to improve its AI How long it says it keeps data
  Presto, privacy notice effective September 6, 2024 Presto Voice listens to and records the guest's voice when they order, and Presto stores the recording Uses recordings to fulfill the order and improve its speech recognition Voice recordings for up to two years, for improving speech recognition and training its models, then destroyed
  SoundHound, policy for third-party voice services, last updated October 2023 Voice or audio interactions, what guests order, phone numbers on phone calls Uses audio to refine its recognition; may share audio with contractors for quality control after altering it As long as needed for the purposes the restaurant sets, then deleted or anonymized
  ConverseNow, privacy policy last modified May 14, 2026 Contact details, order information, payment card number and security code if the guest pays, and logs that include the words used Log files may be used to improve the platform Up to one year, longer where the law requires
  Hi Auto, FAQ Says it does not retain customer personal data; data is encrypted and hosted on Microsoft Azure Every intervention by its human agents is logged and used to improve the AI Its privacy policy covers its website; the FAQ gives no period
  Slang, privacy policy last updated April 9, 2026 Lists phone recordings among the personal data it collects May use de-identified data to build and improve its services As long as needed to provide the service

Sources: [Presto's privacy notice](https://presto.com/privacy-policy/), [SoundHound's policy for third-party voice services](https://www.soundhound.com/partner-privacy), [ConverseNow's privacy policy](https://conversenow.ai/privacy-policy), [Hi Auto's FAQ](https://hi.auto/resources/faqs/) and [Slang's privacy policy](https://www.slang.ai/privacy-policy).

SoundHound's general [privacy policy](https://www.soundhound.com/privacy-policy) says that when its voice AI runs inside another company's product, such as a drive-thru or ordering system, SoundHound acts as a service provider following the instructions of that company, which could be a restaurant. In that setup, guests are told to read the restaurant's own privacy policy.

## What do Maple's own documents say?

Maple's [privacy policy](https://maple.inc/privacy) describes the account and website data it collects, and says Maple does not sell, trade, rent or otherwise share personal information for marketing purposes without consent. A separate [policy for the Maple app on Clover](https://maple.inc/privacy/clover) says call recordings, if the restaurant turns them on, are kept for up to 90 days unless needed longer for investigations, support or legal reasons, and that card numbers are entered in Clover's checkout, so Maple does not receive raw card numbers.

Maple's [master customer agreement](https://maple.inc/mca) says the service records and transcribes phone calls and drive-thru audio, and that Maple trains its models on those calls, including models offered to other customers. The same agreement says Maple will not share identifiable recordings or transcripts with other customers and will not use card numbers or security codes to train models. It makes the restaurant responsible for telling callers they are talking to AI and being recorded, and says Maple provides a recording and AI-disclosure message the restaurant can set up.

## Who has to tell guests they are being recorded?

In the terms we read, usually the restaurant. Slang's [terms of service](https://www.slang.ai/terms-of-service) require the customer to give all notices and get all consents the law requires before a guest uses the service. Maple's agreement says the same. SoundHound's policy calls the restaurant the party in control of the data. Plan the greeting, any sign at the speaker post and your own privacy notice before launch.

## What do recording laws say?

Recording rules differ by state, and the text of each law matters. Three examples, from the statute text on official sites:

- **Federal.** Under [18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d)](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section2511&num=0&edition=prelim), a private person may record a call they take part in, or where one party has given prior consent, unless the purpose is a crime or a tort.
- **California.** [Penal Code section 632](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=632.) makes it an offense to record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties, with a fine of up to $2,500 per violation for a first offense.
- **Washington.** [RCW 9.73.030](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9.73.030) requires the consent of all parties to record a private call, and counts consent as given when one party announces the recording in a reasonably effective way. If the call is recorded, the announcement must be recorded too.

Two cases show how these laws reach AI ordering. In June 2021, an Illinois customer [sued McDonald's](https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/technology/mcdonalds-faces-lawsuit-over-its-voice-recognition-technology) under the state's biometric privacy law, alleging its drive-thru voice AI collected his voiceprint without consent. In February 2025, a federal court in California let a lawsuit against Google go forward over its contact-center AI. The law firm Goodwin's [summary of Ambriz v. Google](https://www.goodwinlaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/02/alerts-practices-dpc-ftec-ai-voice-products-subject-to-california-invasion-of-privacy-claims) says the court treated an AI provider as a possible eavesdropper because its product could use call data to improve its models, whether or not it did. Both were allegations at an early stage, and neither is a finding that the company broke the law.

A vendor that trains on your guests' calls is the kind the Ambriz ruling discussed. Take the vendor's terms and your greeting to a lawyer who knows the states you operate in.

## What about card numbers read out on a call?

The PCI Security Standards Council's [guidance on telephone payments](https://listings.pcisecuritystandards.org/documents/Protecting_Telephone_Based_Payment_Card_Data_v3-0_nov_2018.pdf) says the card security code should not be stored after the payment is authorized, and that if a recording captures it, the data must be made unrecoverable once authorization is complete. If a vendor takes card payments by phone, ask how it keeps card numbers and security codes out of recordings, transcripts and model training.

## What should you ask before you sign?

1. Do you record guest audio, make transcripts, or both? Can I turn recording off?
2. How long do you keep audio, transcripts and order data, and can I ask for shorter?
3. Do you train your models on my guests' calls? Are those models used for other customers? Can I opt out, and at what cost?
4. Who listens to recordings: your staff, contractors, remote order takers? In which countries?
5. Which cloud providers and subprocessors hold the data?
6. Do you build a voiceprint or any other profile that recognizes a returning guest?
7. How do you keep card numbers and security codes out of recordings and transcripts?
8. What greeting or disclosure do you provide, and can I edit it for each state?
9. If a guest asks to see or delete their data, who handles it and how fast?
10. When we stop using the service, what happens to recordings, transcripts and any models trained on them?

Ask for the answers in the contract or a data processing agreement. A privacy page can change without notice, and several of the policies above say so. Ask Maple the same ten questions.

*Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines vendors' own privacy policies, FAQs and terms, Maple's published policies and customer agreement, statute text from official government sites, PCI guidance, a trade report and a law firm summary. It is not legal advice, does not claim that any vendor, including Maple, meets any law, and does not report a test of any vendor's data handling.*

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