Carl's Jr. and Del Taco AI drive-thru tests: what the chains and vendors said

CKE Restaurants, which owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, named three drive-thru AI vendors in May 2023: Presto, OpenCity and Valyant AI. Restaurant Business still listed Hardee's and Carl's Jr. among Presto's customers in January 2026. Del Taco tested Presto in 2022, announced a wider rollout in January 2023 and had stopped by the end of that year.

The two stories sit together because Presto announced both chains within four months, and both show what a vendor's early figures leave out. CKE is privately held, so its statements come through vendor releases and trade press. Del Taco belonged to Jack in the Box, a public company, from March 2022 until December 2025. Presto was public from September 2022 until Nasdaq delisted it in 2024, and some details below come from its SEC filings as Restaurant Business reported them. Our chain tracker gives each chain one row, and our Presto review covers Presto as a product today.

What have CKE and its vendors said about Carl's Jr. and Hardee's?

Each row gives the date, who spoke and where. Figures are the vendors' own claims.

Date	Source	What was said
May 4, 2023	Presto release	Presto Voice to be offered at participating Carl's Jr. and Hardee's drive-thrus nationwide, after tests at select stores; the two brands had about 2,800 U.S. restaurants in 44 states
May 4, 2023	OpenCity release	OpenCity's voice system, Tori, at select U.S. restaurants; guests order with Tori and pay a CKE worker at the window; it works with Brink and Xenial POS systems
May 5, 2023	Restaurant Dive	Valyant AI to go into 32 CKE restaurants owned by two franchisees, with 21 more to follow; Valyant had tested for a year at Hardee's in Tennessee and Carl's Jr. in California; OpenCity's test also lasted about a year
September 27, 2023	Presto release	Franchise group StarCorp signed all 58 of its Carl's Jr. stores, with Presto as its only voice AI vendor, after a pilot at two stores lasting more than six months; Presto claimed a 91% upsell offer rate in that pilot
February 2024	Restaurant Business, citing a Presto SEC filing	Presto installed at 145 locations of Hardee's, Carl's Jr. and Wienerschnitzel combined as of February 1; the current version relied on human agents to enter and check every order
January 2025	Restaurant Business	Presto sold to a group led by Remus Capital; its current customers included Carl's Jr./Hardee's and Taco John's
January 2026	Restaurant Business	Presto's system used by 12 brands across hundreds of locations; its customers include Hardee's/Carl's Jr., Taco John's and Fazoli's

No public source gives a count of Carl's Jr. or Hardee's stores using drive-thru AI today. The 145 figure from early 2024 mixes CKE stores with Wienerschnitzel.

What happened at Del Taco?

Date	Source	What was said
2022	Restaurant Dive, on Presto CEO Rajat Suri at the ICR Conference, January 2023	First pilot in California, near Del Taco's headquarters; after three months of testing and requests from franchisees, Del Taco chose to roll it out
January 10, 2023	Presto release	Expansion to more drive-thrus nationwide; over 95% of orders completed "with no staff intervention"; a Del Taco vice president said the platform and team had "exceeded our expectations"; Del Taco had more than 600 locations
January 18, 2023	Presto blog	Del Taco worth over $10 million in annual recurring revenue to Presto; four months from first pilot to signed agreement; pilot stores offered an upsell to over 82% of guests from October to December 2022, with over 30% accepting
February 2024	Restaurant Business, citing a Presto SEC filing	Del Taco had decided by the second half of 2023 to stop using Presto; how many stores had it was unclear; Presto said the loss would have no material impact
March 2024	Restaurant Dive, citing Presto's 10-Q	Del Taco canceled its test contract with Presto
December 2025	Nation's Restaurant News	Jack in the Box completed the sale of Del Taco to Yadav Enterprises for about $119 million

Del Taco itself did not explain the decision in any source above. We found no later announcement of a new Del Taco drive-thru AI vendor.

What do the Presto figures count?

The figures in these releases count different things. Our guide to AI drive-thru accuracy figures covers the common kinds across vendors.

Figure	Who says it	What it seems to count
Over 95% of Del Taco orders with no staff intervention (2022 test)	Presto release, January 2023	Orders the restaurant's own staff did not touch
Human agents enter and check every order; an advanced version at 54 stores finished 30% of orders without a human entering them	Presto SEC filing, per Restaurant Business, February 2024	Orders a remote agent handled, across Presto's stores
91% upsell offer rate (StarCorp pilot); over 82% offered and over 30% accepted (Del Taco pilot)	Presto releases, 2023	How often the AI offered an add-on, and in one case how often guests took it
99% accuracy for Tori	OpenCity's company description, May 2023	Not defined in the release

The first two rows can both be true because they count different people. Restaurant Business reported in February 2024 that Presto's voicebots relied heavily on human agents to oversee most orders. If "staff" means the restaurant's crew, an order entered by an agent off site still counts as one with no staff intervention. Our Presto review explains how Presto's current figures and modes handle agents, and our remote order-taking guide explains how off-site agents work at the lane.

What can a smaller operator take from CKE and Del Taco?

1. Test more than one vendor on the same menu if you can. StarCorp ran what Presto called a competitive pilot at two stores for more than six months before it signed.
2. Ask who takes the order when the AI is unsure: your crew, a remote agent, or nobody. Ask whether the completion figure counts orders a remote agent touched.
3. Read the exit terms before you sign. Del Taco praised its system in January 2023 and had dropped it within the year. Know how a test ends and who removes the hardware.
4. Ask who owns the vendor and what happens to your service if it is sold. Presto warned of doubt about its future in 2024, and its assets were auctioned that December.
5. Count upsells accepted as well as upsells offered. Our drive-thru upselling guide shows how to track both.
6. Get your POS named in writing. OpenCity named Brink and Xenial; our drive-thru POS integration guide lists what to check.

Our one-lane pilot worksheet turns these into pass and fail rules.

Where does Maple fit?

Maple makes a drive-thru ordering unit that stands beside the existing speaker post, takes orders in many languages, shows a live cart on its screen and writes the order into the POS. Guests can ask for a person at any time, and a one-press kill switch hands the lane back to the crew. It is in early access with a small number of restaurants and is priced per unit, with no public price.

Published by Maple, which sells an early-access drive-thru ordering unit. This AI-assisted guide combines Presto's and OpenCity's releases with reporting by Restaurant Business, Restaurant Dive and Nation's Restaurant News, with an original timeline and figure table. It does not verify any CKE, Del Taco or vendor figure or report a test of their systems.