Restaurant brands are seeking out emerging technology to be more efficient and using data analytics to improve the drive-thru experience and this is only the beginning, according to Tim Tang, Director of Enterprise Solutions at Hughes. For example, Chick-fil-A ihas used drone footage and cameras to optimize speed and accuracy at their drive-thru and Tang expects more innovation from the brand.
“If I had the opportunity, I would encourage them to employ voice analytics, not to automate ordering, but rather to analyze customer/employee conversations for insights into customer experience, operational efficiency, marketing effectiveness, safety compliance, employee engagement, and more, he said. “The conversation between employees and customers is a rich resource of actionable insights. Imagine what you would learn if you could listen to all conversations across stores, at any time.”
Tang also suggests employing video analytics with frontline task management.He also noted that voice analytics and video analytics provide restaurants with valuable insights into why one store routinely outperforms another.
“In retail and restaurants, everyone is fighting for the same shrinking pool of frontline labor. Seasoned store manager labor is even harder to find. Rising minimum wage and higher food/operational costs are an unsustainable recipe. Hack the labor shortage problem by creating job aids to simplify and scale limited store manager resources. Enable lower qualified employees to punch above their weight with intuitive dashboards that virtually “coach” a reasonably intelligent and responsible individual to fulfill their duties with the competence of five-year, ten-year general managers while on the job.”
Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine asked Tang to take a deeper dive into technology and the drive-thru experience.
How are guest expectations aligned with the current actual drive-thru experience and how can tech help address these differences and problem solve? In what ways can AI be tapped into to improve the drive-thru?
Drive-thru ordering and pickup was created for speed and convenience. Unfortunately, little has changed since its creation and today’s drive-thru experience can sometimes feel inconvenient. This is where technology and AI come in. Both can be used to anticipate what a customer wants and utilize your business’s proprietary data for a competitive edge.
The beauty of the drive-thru is that there are many visual markers available for identifying customers—from the type of vehicle they are driving to the mobile device they are carrying, the apps that are installed, and their visual appearance.
Anticipate what the customer wants, even before they know what they want. The beauty of the drive-thru is that there are many visual markers available for identifying customers—from the type of vehicle they are driving to the mobile device they are carrying, the apps that are installed, and their visual appearance. Generic demographic details (age, gender) derived from computer vision can be as useful as identifying the individual using their license plate or mobile device. Leverage system-wide insights to accurately anticipate what the customer will order. Voice AI can also be utilized to analyze nuances in customer inflections to discern not only their mood but also their interest in particular products.
Exploit the competitive advantage in your proprietary data. You have more information about your menu, your restaurant, your employees, and your customers than anyone else. Leverage your data to diagnose operational issues and drive profitability. The greatest achievement of so many AI solutions is the democratization of data. Everyone now has tools to extract actionable insights from a sea of unending data.
What do you anticipate the drive-thru experience will look like five to ten years in the future?
A rising minimum wage, inflation, and ongoing labor shortage has put the restaurant industry under immense economic pressure. In five to ten years, the need for profitability will continue to drive technology adoption.
As technology advances, it becomes increasingly invisible. In the future, customers will drive up to a drive-thru to just pick up their food. They won’t have to order, because their personal digital agent will have already connected to the restaurant’s digital agent to not only order their favorite staple, but also selectively include a promotional surprise item that has a high probability to become their next favorite on the menu.
To eliminate the wait, maximize the taste, and facilitate the flow of service, the food will be ready as they arrive. At the drive-thru windows, customers will be able to augment their pickup orders with impromptu requests, which will be anticipated and readily available. To accelerate cooking times, food will be proactively, predictively prepared based on regional purchase trends, surrounding traffic flow, weather, and other factors. The increasing accuracy of AI predictive models will accelerate delivery of high-quality foods while minimizing waste.
What role does the concept of thoughtful humility play in improving drive thrus?
Prepare for the current incremental steps to reach a tipping point into the future. There’s a reason why these ideas aren’t happening today. Many restaurant technology stacks are closed. Basic integrations between core applications are often lacking. Restaurants don’t always have rights to their own data. The federal government is trying to regulate AI, while they learn about it. The state governments are trying to define their data privacy laws. As restaurants become more dependent on digital, cybersecurity is a growing concern. Change is difficult. However, change occurs when the pain of the status quo exceeds the pain of the change.
Now is the time to be fearlessly aggressive in learning how technology is transforming the restaurant industry.
Now is the time to be fearlessly aggressive in learning how technology is transforming the restaurant industry. Not everything is going to work. Sometimes the right idea at the wrong time will be quite disappointing. A thoughtful humility will be required to navigate the failures. However, the alternative of doing nothing will be much, much worse.
How important is and do you expect gamification to be for drive-thru purchasing and building loyalty?
AI-Enabled Gamification
Use VoiceAI to analyze the conversations between the employee and the customer and then provide coaching on how to elevate the experience, promote the loyalty program, and upsell. Simplify the store manager role by using VideoAI to “see” what’s happening in the store and automate frontline task management. Create intuitive dashboards to coach new store managers in their roles.
Human Drivers for Gamification
The customer experience will never exceed the employee experience. Gamifying the frontline end-user role takes advantage of an existing wave of momentum in people’s personal lives—video gaming. From early childhood, men and women of all generations enjoy playing video games. Gamification of the frontline role enables the employee to play a video in real life. Clean the bathroom and earn 50 points. Offer the loyalty program and gain 10 points. Empty the trash to get five points.
Gamification not only makes the frontline role fun, it also creates the opportunity for attribution. Minimum wage roles often lead to minimum efforts, except when there is attribution. High performers are often discouraged, even irritated, when their efforts are credited to a team that includes lower performing employees. Catch and celebrate your employees doing the right thing.
