White Castle's AI drive-thru: what the chain and SoundHound have said about Julia

White Castle's drive-thru AI is called Julia, and SoundHound built it. White Castle began piloting it in October 2020. In 2023 the two companies planned to reach more than 100 lanes by the end of 2024, and in June 2026 White Castle told CBC News that Julia ran at about 40 locations. The performance figures come from White Castle and SoundHound.

White Castle is family-owned, so there are no earnings calls to quote. SoundHound is a public company (Nasdaq: SOUN), and most dated statements come from its press releases, with interviews in the trade and general press. Our chain tracker gives White Castle one row, and our SoundHound review covers what SoundHound sells today. This page puts the White Castle statements in date order and shows what a smaller operator can use.

What have White Castle and SoundHound said, and when?

Each row gives the date, who spoke and where. Figures are the companies' own statements.

Date	Source	What was said
September 2020	Restaurant Dive, on a Mastercard release	Mastercard to test an AI drive-thru at several White Castle stores in the Chicago and St. Louis areas that October, with SoundHound for voice and Rekor Systems for vehicle recognition
October 2020	IT Brew interview with CIO Susan Carroll-Boser, September 2026	White Castle began piloting Julia at select locations with SoundHound
August 2, 2023	SoundHound release	Plan to reach more than 100 U.S. drive-thru lanes by the end of 2024, many open 24 hours; SoundHound said its system "is not a human-assisted system" and claimed 90% order completion and orders taken in just over 60 seconds
October 3, 2023	SoundHound and Samsung release	Voice-enabled Samsung digital menu boards planned for more than 100 White Castle lanes
March 2024	SoundHound blog on a webinar with White Castle's Jamie Richardson	Julia deployed at 10 drive-thrus, with 100 more planned by the end of 2024; there were 72 ways guests ordered the No. 1 Combo; SoundHound said completion had reached 90% and higher with no human involvement
February 25, 2025	SoundHound release	Named White Castle among its restaurant brands; said its drive-thru AI runs "without a human in the loop," with "backup support available when necessary for escalations"
May 2025	WKYT, a Kentucky TV station	At a Frankfort store, guests agree to Julia's terms and conditions before ordering or decline them; saying "help" sends the guest to a team member on the headset
October 2025	Nation's Restaurant News	The new Castle of Tomorrow prototype in Columbus, Ohio, has a double drive-thru with Julia; guests can bypass Julia to speak with a person
June 2026	CBC News	Julia at about 40 locations; chief marketing officer Jamie Richardson said accuracy was "well above the 90 per cent range" and better than before Julia; if there is a problem, an employee takes over the order

How many White Castle drive-thrus use Julia?

The latest count is about 40 locations, from CBC News in June 2026. The 2023 plan was more than 100 lanes by the end of 2024. None of the sources says whether that target was met or changed.

The two numbers count different things. The plan counted lanes, and the 2026 figure counts locations. A store with a double drive-thru, like the Columbus prototype, has two lanes, so 40 locations could mean more than 40 lanes. Against the more than 350 restaurants White Castle listed in 2023, 40 locations would be fewer than one in eight.

What do the White Castle figures count?

Our guide to AI drive-thru accuracy figures explains the common kinds across vendors.

Figure	Who says it	What it seems to count
90% order completion, and later "90% and higher"	SoundHound, 2023 releases and 2024 blog	Orders Julia finished with no team member stepping in
Orders taken in just over, or just under, 60 seconds	SoundHound, August and October 2023 releases	Average time to take and process an order; start and end points are not defined
Accuracy "well above the 90 per cent range"	White Castle's chief marketing officer, CBC News, 2026	White Castle's own measure; the method is not given
Deployed at 10 drive-thrus (2024); about 40 locations (2026)	SoundHound blog; White Castle via CBC News	Drive-thrus in the first figure, restaurants in the second

SoundHound describes its system as fully automated, with backup support for escalations. At White Castle the backup the public can see is the store crew: the guest says "help" or asks for a person, and a team member on the headset takes over. If 90% completion holds at a given store, about one order in ten still needs that crew member.

What has White Castle said about making Julia work?

• Learning how guests order. White Castle found 72 ways guests ordered the No. 1 Combo. CIO Susan Carroll-Boser told IT Brew that a brand's menu "is going to tell you how hard this project is going to be."
• Getting the sound right. Carroll-Boser said the right partners on the sound systems mattered, along with making Julia respond to different voices, accents and volumes.
• Spending on the lane. A SoundHound manager said in the 2024 webinar that audio equipment, signage and the order completion board all take investment and must sit in the right place.
• Talking to the crew. Richardson said White Castle trains staff before going live and that top leaders show up at every install to talk with team members.
• Staying small. Carroll-Boser said smaller chains see failures when they expand a project too fast, and that "staying small and staying very clear about why you're doing something" is how mid-size and smaller chains like White Castle have to work.

What can a smaller operator take from White Castle?

1. Write down every way your guests order your five best sellers, and test the AI against that list before live cars.
2. Fix the sound first. Our guide to drive-thru noise and speech recognition covers speakers, microphones and lane noise.
3. Decide how a guest reaches a person, and say it in the greeting. Our guide to telling guests about AI at the lane covers the wording.
4. Keep someone on the headset. At 90% completion, a lane serving 60 cars an hour would still hand a person about six orders an hour.
5. Set your own dates. White Castle's plan called for more than 100 lanes by the end of 2024, and the latest public count is about 40 locations. Decide in advance when you will expand, pause or stop.
6. Check the confirmation board. Our order confirmation board guide covers what guests should see.

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 SoundHound's releases and blog with reporting by CBC News, IT Brew, Nation's Restaurant News, Restaurant Dive and WKYT, with an original timeline and figure table. It does not verify any White Castle or SoundHound figure or report a test of Julia.