A drone that delivers pizza.
Flytrex/Forbes
Franchise operators across the country are facing a number of challenges, including finding and retaining talented staff and squeezing profits while food, materials and operating costs have increased significantly. The good news is that there are many AI-powered technologies that can help owners overcome these challenges, maintain profitability, and grow. Some are proprietary applications developed by large companies. But that’s okay. Because this wave of innovation will eventually trickle down to the smallest franchise operators.
If your business is part of a franchise model, here are some technologies worth investigating.
Vision Monitoring: Do’Cast AI
It’s a vision monitoring system used by Bluemont Group, which operates 99 Dunkin’ Donuts stores in Knoxville, Tenn., and uses in-store cameras to track inventory in real time and predict demand for each type of donut. These forecasts take into account recent sales, weather, seasonal patterns, holidays, days of the week, and key local events such as college football games. The system captures images of donut display cases several times a day, so you can see how your store’s inventory changes over the course of the day. The final waste count is also recorded at the end of the day, as excess items are thrown into the bin. So far, Do’Cast has reduced waste by up to 25%, reducing costs while ensuring the availability of top-selling products, the company says. (sauce: fast company)
Employee support: ARMA AI assistant
Made by Ace Hardware Operated through a handheld device, this AI-powered assistant is designed to support store associates in stores nationwide by providing real-time information and guidance with quick access to product knowledge, project advice, and recommendations, allowing them to focus on resolving customer issues and providing better in-store service. It is already being used at over 2,600 locations. “After 78 years in the hardware business, Hey ARMA is one of the most impactful changes we’ve ever made to improve the customer service experience,” said Bill Wygal, owner of Bill’s Ace Hardware, a two-store chain in California. “With the push of a button, our employees can quickly find products, understand their features, and confidently recommend the right solution to our customers.” (sauce: retailcustomerexperience.com)
Customer Support: AI Shoppe Advisor
Created by The Vitamin Shoppe in partnership with Microsoft, Shoppe Advisor is similar to Hey Arma, but developed for customers. The app claims to be an interactive discovery tool designed to enhance in-store education, engagement, and personalization. The assistant provides instant access via a digital touchscreen to expert wellness content, including detailed product information and articles and videos that can be searched by health goals, trends and brands, and the company says it currently supports 50 to 100 customers per day per store. “There was all this great content, blog posts, and specialty articles online that we couldn’t effectively deliver in-store,” said Umang Chan, principal director of customer experience at The Vitamin Shoppe. “Shoppe Advisor was designed to fill that very gap.” (sauce: vitamin shop)
Voice assistant: PrestoVoice
This is an AI voice assistant being deployed by Dairy Queen (DQ) that is designed to speed up the ordering process for customers and optimize the drive-thru experience by freeing up staff for other tasks. According to Presto, the bot receives accurate orders 90% of the time. Chatbots always read out orders to customers, whereas humans sometimes skip that step. During initial testing, the system improved customer satisfaction by two orders of magnitude, and the benefits were significant. “Presto’s AI allows our staff to focus on high-value tasks that ultimately benefit our fans, with a friendly experience and high order accuracy,” said Kevin Baartman, executive vice president of technology at DQ. (sauce: presto)
Drone delivery: Sky2 drone
Created through a partnership between Flytrex and Little Caesars, it is an AI-powered delivery drone that can carry up to 8 pounds of cargo. After placing an order, users open the Flytrex app and verify addresses within a four-mile radius of Wylie, Texas, where drone technology is currently deployed. This app routes orders directly to the Little Ceasar POS system. This is the first POS integration of its kind in drone delivery. With a relatively small delivery radius, the company says orders will be delivered within five minutes. “Flightrex is focused on bringing on-demand food delivery by drone to everyday homes,” said Amit Regev, co-founder and CEO of Flytrex. (sauce: forbes)
Management: Zignil
Zignyl’s technology, developed by Mito Robotics, is used to integrate front-line workforce management and kitchen automation into a connected ecosystem, allowing restaurateurs to track performance, workforce, and robot ROI in real-time. Franchisors from Auntie Anne’s to Planet Smoothie to Cinnabon use it to manage labor costs and manage operations. The AI app addresses questions such as schedules, turnaround times, and expected sales, “taking the guesswork out of day-to-day management.” (sauce: miso robotics)
Management: Zenput
KFC uses Zenput, a business execution platform that automates routine restaurant procedures, food safety checks, and scheduling. Organize employee task management lists, automatically generate alerts for follow-up tasks that aren’t properly completed, and provide data and analytics that show areas for improvement. According to KFC, after implementing Zenput, they were able to perform critical tasks better across their organization and resolve issues faster. “Cooks’ attitudes towards bone-in chicken have changed,” said Ricky Brown, KFC’s operations manager. “We saw the product improve significantly on a more consistent basis.” (sauce: Zenput)
Recruiter: Paradox.ai
The company, which was recently acquired by HR platform Workday, says Paradoxs uses conversational AI to provide a simple, frictionless hiring experience and improve the overall hiring process. The platform also adds intelligent automation such as two-way texting, candidate screening, and interview scheduling to help you save time and money. 7-Eleven says the application has reduced the onboarding time for new employees from 10 days to three days and “save 40,000 hours per week for store managers.” Previously, the company’s store managers had to create jobs, get approvals, post them themselves, review hundreds of applicants, choose which candidates to speak to, make phone calls, and schedule interviews. Thanks to this AI application, that process has been streamlined. (Source: convenience.org)
Wellness: Dash
Even dogs can have a fun day out. Dogtopia, one of North America’s fastest growing franchises, has teamed up with technology company PitPat to roll out an AI-based dog GPS tracker/activity monitor called DASH. It comes with a protective cover to fit over a collar or harness and is specifically made for multi-dog environments. According to the company, the product features “nursery-approved durability, one-year battery life, and easy data syncing to DASH’s mobile app” for “effortless monitoring of your dog’s daily activities designed to enhance your dog’s health and wellness.” Applications such as tracking steps and break frequency. (sauce PR News Wire)
Mobile order: Lou AI
Developed in-house by Papa Johns and available in the company’s app, Lou AI is an AI-powered pizza assistant focused on group ordering, deployed through Google Cloud’s Food Ordering agent. The application allows operators to spend less time coordinating all preferences between customers in a group, helping customers determine “the right amount and combination of items,” and guiding customers to make “smarter, stress-free decisions.” (Source: Papa John’s)
