World’s Largest Restaurant Company Advances AI Adoption
The quick-service restaurant industry is a marvel of modern logistics, where speed, teamwork, and kitchen operations are key ingredients for every order. Yum! Brands is now introducing AI-powered agents at select Pizza Hut and Taco Bell locations to assist and enhance the team member experience.
Generative AI-Powered Customer-Facing Experiences
Generative AI-powered customer-facing experiences like automated ordering can help speed operations — but they’re often difficult to scale because of complexity and costs. To manage that complexity, developers at Byte by Yum! harnessed NVIDIA NIM microservices and NVIDIA Riva to build new AI-accelerated voice ordering agents in under four months. The voice AI is deployed on Amazon EC2 P4d instances accelerated by NVIDIA A100 GPUs, which enables the agents to understand natural speech, process complex menu orders, and suggest add-ons — increasing accuracy and customer satisfaction and helping reduce bottlenecks in high-volume locations.
Rollout of AI Solutions Underway
Yum!’s voice AI agents are already being deployed across its brands, including in call centers to handle phone orders when demand surges during events like game days. An expanded rollout of AI solutions at up to 500 restaurants is expected this year.
Computer Vision and Restaurant Intelligence
Beyond AI-accelerated ordering, Yum! is also testing NVIDIA computer vision software to analyze drive-thru traffic and explore new use cases for AI to perceive, alert, and adjust staffing, with the goal of optimizing service speed. Another initiative focuses on NVIDIA AI-accelerated restaurant operational intelligence. Using NIM microservices, Yum! can deploy applications analyzing performance metrics across thousands of locations to generate customized recommendations for managers, identifying what top-performing stores do differently and applying those insights system-wide.
Conclusion
The bottom line: AI is making restaurant operations and dining experiences easier, faster, and more personal for the world’s largest restaurant company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Yum! Brands’ goal with AI adoption?
A: Yum! Brands aims to deploy multiple AI solutions using NVIDIA technology in 500 restaurants this year.
Q: How does Yum! plan to achieve its AI goals?
A: Yum! is leveraging its digital technology team, including its proprietary AI-driven restaurant technology platform, Byte by Yum!, to pioneer its AI-accelerated strategy.
Q: What are some of the benefits of Yum!’s AI solutions?
A: Yum!’s AI solutions can increase accuracy and customer satisfaction, reduce bottlenecks, and optimize service speed.
Q: What is the scope of Yum!’s partnership with NVIDIA?
A: Yum! and NVIDIA are partnering to deploy AI solutions across up to 500 restaurants this year, with a focus on AI-accelerated ordering, computer vision, and restaurant operational intelligence.
