Checkers & Rally's AI drive-thru: what the chain, Presto and Hi Auto have said

Checkers & Rally's began rolling out AI order-taking at its corporate drive-thrus in 2022 under the Presto name. The speech software came from Hi Auto, which Presto resold. The latest dated store count is 350 restaurants, from August 2023. Every performance figure comes from the chain or a vendor, and the figures count different things.

Private-equity firm Oak Hill Capital agreed to buy Checkers in March 2017, so most of what the chain has said comes through vendor releases and trade press. Presto was a public company from September 2022 until Nasdaq delisted it in 2024, so some details come from its SEC filings as Restaurant Business reported them. Our chain tracker gives Checkers one row. Our Presto review and Hi Auto alternatives guide cover each vendor as a product. This page puts the Checkers statements in date order and shows what a smaller operator can use.

What have Checkers & Rally's and its vendors said, and when?

Each row gives the date, who spoke and where. Every figure comes from Checkers, Presto or Hi Auto, including those given at investor conferences.

Date	Source	What was said
January 10, 2022	Presto release	Presto chosen as the exclusive voice ordering provider for all corporate-owned drive-thrus, to be deployed in 2022; a four-month pilot in 2021 completed over 98% of orders "with minimal intervention from restaurant employees"; the product was built with Hi Auto
January 2022	Restaurant Business, on CEO Frances Allen at the ICR Conference	The chain had tested the system for 18 months and had it in nine stores; employees stepped in on about 2% of orders
February 2022	Restaurant Dive	Franchisees could opt in to Valyant AI's system, called Holly, then in 12 franchised stores; Presto was also in some franchised stores
January 2023	Restaurant Dive, on Presto CEO Rajat Suri at the ICR Conference	Presto claimed 3.8 times more upsell attempts and savings equal to one full-time employee, and said it was in more than the roughly 200 corporate stores of the first rollout
January 31, 2023	Presto release	Checkers named Presto its 2022 supplier of the year for innovation; CIO Minh Le said the system was installed at hundreds of stores
August 2023	Restaurant Dive, on a Hi Auto release	Spanish ordering live at 350 restaurants after a two-month test at five; Presto described as a reseller of Hi Auto's system at Checkers; a handful of franchisees still on Valyant; Hi Auto claimed 95% order accuracy
February 2024	Restaurant Business, citing a Presto SEC filing	Presto had a hand in 347 Checkers drive-thrus as the agent between the chain and Hi Auto, sharing the revenue; in January 2024 the two changed their deal so each could compete for the Checkers account outright
December 16, 2025	Hi Auto release	Quoted a Rally's franchise owner, a Rally's franchise manager, an executive with Michigan's largest Checkers & Rally's franchisee and a Checkers store manager as users; claimed 93% completion and 96% accuracy across nearly 1,000 stores of all its customers

How many Checkers & Rally's restaurants use drive-thru AI?

The latest count tied to Checkers alone is 350 restaurants, from the August 2023 Spanish launch. Presto's filing counted 347 Checkers stores in early 2024. In January 2022 the chain had 836 restaurants, per the boilerplate in Presto's release, so 350 stores would be about 42% of that older total. No count since then separates Checkers from Hi Auto's other customers.

The rollout began with corporate stores. Restaurant Business counted 267 of them in January 2022, and Restaurant Dive put the corporate share of the chain at about 30%. If every corporate store had the system by August 2023, at least 83 of the 350 would be franchised. None of the sources gives the split.

What do the Checkers figures count?

The figures come from three companies over four years, and each counts something different. Our guide to AI drive-thru accuracy figures explains the common kinds across vendors.

Figure	Who says it	What it seems to count
Over 98% of orders completed with minimal intervention (2021 pilot)	Presto release, January 2022	Orders where restaurant employees did little or nothing; "minimal" is not defined
About 2% of orders need an employee (nine stores)	CEO Frances Allen, per Restaurant Business	Orders where store staff stepped in
95% order accuracy rate	Hi Auto, August 2023	Hi Auto's accuracy measure across its system
3.8 times more upsell attempts across the rollout	Presto's CEO, January 2023	Offers made by the AI, compared with an unstated baseline; it says nothing about offers accepted
93% completion and 96% accuracy, all Hi Auto stores	Hi Auto, December 2025 and its product page	Every Hi Auto customer; completion means orders sent to the POS without staff intervention, and accuracy means every item and customization right

Two checks help. First, every intervention figure above counts restaurant staff. Hi Auto's product page says a trained human supervisor steps in when the system is not confident. An order finished by a remote supervisor can still count as one with no staff intervention, so ask each vendor whether its completion figure includes those orders. Second, Hi Auto's 2025 figures cover all its customers, so they say nothing about Checkers stores in particular.

Why did Checkers end up with more than one vendor?

Checkers split the decision by who owns the store. Corporate stores got Presto. Franchisees got a choice: CIO Minh Le said in February 2022 that the chain wanted "to provide franchisees with options to determine the best fit for their own AI needs." By August 2023, the chain told Restaurant Dive that a handful of franchisees still used Valyant.

The Presto layer changed too. Presto sold the product under its own name while Hi Auto's software took the order, and Presto kept a share of the revenue. The January 2024 change let Hi Auto and Presto each compete for the account on its own. Presto itself later went through a foreclosure and sale: in January 2025 Restaurant Business reported that its lender had foreclosed and sold the company to a group led by Remus Capital.

What can a smaller operator take from Checkers?

1. Ask whose software takes the order. If the company selling to you resells another firm's system, ask what happens to your service if that deal changes.
2. Ask who steps in when the AI is unsure: your crew, a remote agent, or nobody. Get the answer, and each figure's definition, in writing.
3. Test on a few stores for months before you decide. Checkers ran nine stores for about 18 months before its rollout.
4. Test each new language the same way. Checkers ran Spanish at five stores for two months first.
5. Count upsells accepted as well as upsells offered. Our drive-thru upselling guide shows how to track both.
6. If you run more than one store, decide store by store. Checkers let franchisees pick a vendor or skip it.

Our one-lane pilot worksheet turns these into pass and fail rules, and our guide to AI drive-thru for one store covers which vendors sell to single locations.

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 Hi Auto's releases and product pages with reporting by Restaurant Business, Restaurant Dive and Nation's Restaurant News, with an original timeline and figure table. It does not verify any Checkers, Presto or Hi Auto figure or report a test of their systems.