When I ask Michael Chorei, “Can AI take your order?”, the answer is overwhelmingly “Yes.”
The founder and chief inventory of Wendy's Frashai started out from the burger chain and joined Presto, an AI automation provider, as president of its new division, Presto IQ.
For the past three years, Chorey has helped Wendy build AI that says it can take customer orders faster and more efficiently than workers wearing headsets. Now he is betting on rebuilding the entire fast food industry, one drive-thru at a time with the same technology.
Michael Chorey, former head of innovation at Wendy's and creator of Burger Chaen's Freshai Platform, joined Presto. Presto
The move illustrates a major shift that has stepped into the wider world of high-tech providers from corporate kitchens, with plans to personalize and partially automate between restaurants, workers and customers.
It also signals that the fast food segment is rethinking its approach to AI.
“This unlocks the future of hospitality meaning that starts with drive-thru,” Chorey told Business Insider.
Chorey brings Wendy to life by creating difficulties for three of his five years. By the time he left the company in early August, he said the chain had started testing. AI Voice Assistant In 2023, they had planned to implement AI orders at 300 drive-thru sites and deploy the technology in 600 locations by the end of the year.
A representative from Wendy's did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Related Stories
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider previously reported that Wendy CEO Kirk Tanner told investors in February that the Fraffai system had created it. Google Cloud, “Give customers the opportunity to create an order.”
Despite early customer concerns about ease of use and accuracy, Tanner personally tested the technology several times a week at Wendy's location near the company's headquarters, adding that Kiyoto “understands what to look for and accuracy is definitely improving.”
AI rollout race at your nearest drive-thru
Wendy is not the only chain to deploy AI-powered order assistants in recent years, but it is one of the farthest in line with technology implementation.
In 2021, McDonald's began testing an AI ordering system that he created in collaboration with IBM, but in 2023 the high-tech flaw went viral and returned after a video that ended the program in June 2024. In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that McDonald's, in turn, had signed a new contract with Google to reconsider how to integrate AI across its global portfolio.
Yum Brands, the parent company of the chain, including KFC and Pizza Hut, announced last July that it would expand its use of AI-powered drive-thru assistants by the end of the year, in addition to five Australian KFC locations.
Presto's technology has already been tested in major chains like Cke Restaurants, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, owned by both Wienerschnitzel and Yoshinoya.
The chain's representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Smile and automated service
Chorey said the main advantage and challenge of his work with Presto is expanding the technology to work seamlessly for each of the different brands and their customers.
“The way you listen to orders at lunchtime and orders in the middle of the day, how the human crew talks to customers, how the customer talks to the human crew, and how it changes even further with each brand,” Chorey says. “An effective AI platform, like our human crew, can create a very consistent experience every time we come to a restaurant.”
As AI becomes more mainstream in the fast food sector, the Presto team knows it will disrupt workers on the other end of the drive-through box.
Krishna Gupta, co-founder and co-CEO Of the Presto, he told Business Insider he hopes there will be no human operators taking orders at Drive Thrus within the next three years. Still, he added, “No one would wake up in the morning and say 'I want to order all day'.”
“So now you can go to that person and instead of doing that monotonous, repetitive, boring task, you can actually make food, order it, and serve people with a smile,” Gupta said. “And that's my hope for AI technology. It's to enable all humanity to do that and serve a higher purpose in our lives.”
For brands looking to implement technology, Gupta and Chorey said it was an “IF” issue, given the ever-evolving needs of the dining industry, not a “IF” issue, not a “they need to board.”
“Fast food is just faster and faster. This is a very competitive landscape,” Chorey said. “Brands need to be able to make decisions quickly. Whether it's a restaurant operator or a leadership within the broader brand, they need to be able to adapt on the spot. These Voice AI agents give that ability.”
The drive-thru lane was just the beginning. As AI agents can already climb orders of fries in order, the next evolution of fast food is smart, scalable and increasingly inhumane.
Do you work at Wendy's, McDonald's, or another fast food restaurant and have the idea of a story to share? Please reach out to this reporter ktangalakislippert@businessinsider.com
