Panera Bread on Monday said it will begin testing a new artificially intelligent voice-ordering bot named “Tori” at drive-thru locations in the Rochester, N.Y. area.
Developed by Boston-based AI-ordering platform OpenCity, a Tori will be tested at Panera drive-thru units in Greece (800 Greece Ridge Center Dr.), and Webster, N.Y. (935 Hold Rd.).
Guests will be able to drive up and order through the speaker, with assistance from Tori—and perhaps a human standing by to troubleshoot any issues, the company said. Diners will pay, as usual, with help from a Panera worker.
The goal is to cut down on wait times, improve accuracy and to free up workers to focus on preparing the to-go order.
“At Panera, improving our guest experience is always our priority and we are using this innovative technology to help enable a faster, more accurate order for each of our drive-thru guests,” said Debbie Roberts, Panera’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “The potential of AI drive-thru technology is incredibly exciting for us—we are eager to evaluate the performance of these tests and the possibility of expanding this technology in additional bakery cafes.”
The 2,116-unit Panera has been working on developing its tech capabilities to support contactless dine-in, Rapid Pick Up, curbside and delivery.
Earlier this year, the fast-casual chain opened the first Panera To Go in Chicago, a digital-only unit with no dine-in. More such units were planned in California and Washington, D.C.
As voice-ordering technology improves, however, talking to restaurant bots is likely to become increasingly common.
Danny Meyer’s Enlightened Hospitality Investments arm recently took a $10 million stake in the voice-ordering company ConverseNow, which counts chains like Domino’s among its clients.
Checkers last year added voice-ordering to drive-thrus at 267 company owned units. And McDonald’s has reportedly been testing voice ordering, and Google Home and Amazon Alexa have partnered with various chains to allow guests to order delivery.
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