Checkers and Rally’s bilingual drive-thru voice AI ordering Works

 

Success does leave clues and at Checkers and Rally’s restaurants focusing on their customer comes first.  Given the demand on drive-thru’s to increase and ease the speed of service Checkers and Rally’s have looked at and adopted new technology to increase drive-thru times according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

In case you had not heard Checkers, Rally's Drive-in Restaurants, and Hi Auto revealed the addition of Spanish drive-thru voice AI ordering, representing a momentous development both for the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry and for North America’s more than 50 million Spanish and bilingual speakers. Already operational at more than 350 of the restaurant group’s locations, Hi Auto’s is the world’s most widely deployed drive-thru voice AI ordering technology, and today’s announcement signifies the first of its kind for bilingual drive-thru voice AI ordering.

So after a successfully beta testing over the past two months at five of their drive-thru’s, Checkers and Rally’s is ready to expand the Spanish drive-thru voice AI rollout to more franchises and stores.

Liliam M. Lopez, president and CEO of the non-profit South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, stated, “Seventy percent of Miami Dade’s population are of Hispanic descent, so I congratulate the leadership of Checkers, Rally’s and Hi Auto on being pioneers and leading the way for other companies to follow,” … “It gives me such satisfaction to see that Checkers, Rally’s and Hi Auto are implementing a policy that their drive thru employees speak Spanish. Thank you to their leadership team, and we look forward to working with them.”

Leveraging Hi Auto’s AI and automation technologies and real-time human supervision capabilities, the new bilingual feature enables drive-thru restaurants to accurately take spoken orders and inquiries for Spanish speaking customers in real-time, further enhancing the customer experience. In fact, the Hi Auto system automatically detects the language spoken by the customer and immediately responds in that language to carry out the ordering process.

Minh Le, Chief Information Officer at Checkers & Rally’s. stated, “At Checkers & Rally’s, we understand the importance of creating an inclusive environment and meeting our customers where they are,” ... “With the addition of Hi Auto’s Spanish translation capabilities to our AI voice ordering technology at the drive-thru, we’re further enhancing guest interactions, increasing order efficiency and embracing our welcoming culture. We’re excited to partner with Hi Auto as we continue to implement Spanish translation technology to our AI-powered drive-thru’s nationwide.”

This new technology is designed to provide a seamless interaction with customers, Hi Auto’s solution allows restaurants to take orders from vehicles through a virtual assistant, permitting customers to conduct a natural conversation at ordering stations. Hi Auto is the only company that has scaled drive-thru voice AI to hundreds of stores, and Checkers is the only chain that has scaled drive-thru voice AI to hundreds of locations. Hi Auto has integrated unique customization capabilities that allow the franchisee community to support this scale.

Consider that you can now add Spanish to its extensively installed English drive-thru voice AI ordering, Hi Auto takes customers’ orders, recognizes each item, offers additional upsell suggestions and sends the order to the restaurant's Point of Sale. The company’s advanced AI technology understands complex menus, half-sentences, diverse accents, detailed requests, as well as mid-order changes made by customers.

Hi Auto’s CEO and Co-Founder Roy Baharav, stated, “To best serve our communities, restaurants need solutions that speak to all customers, and the United States is the world's second largest Spanish speaking country. Our expanded partnership with Checkers and Rally’s represents a huge breakthrough for the country’s Spanish-speaking and bilingual communities, and allows every restaurant to cater to the Spanish speaking population at any time.”

The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that this is a very good step forward as Hi Auto’s conversational AI has revolutionized how QSRs serve their customers. The company’s solution streamlines the ordering experience, through fast and accurate automated order processing, helping to improve average speed-of-service, reduce operational costs and drive ROI. With over 95% order accuracy rate, Hi Auto enables restaurant employees to focus on other tasks to drive efficiency and reduce multitasking and stress, helping make the company’s solutions the most scalable across large numbers of restaurant locations.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

Checkers & Rally’s Small Footprint, Strong Leadership, Faster Drive-Thru’s

 

Fresher food and faster service in a smaller footprint are but a couple of the advantages Checkers & Rally’s has over other legacy fast-food restaurants according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Now Checkers Drive-In Restaurant wants to make its iconic drive-thru’s, just a little faster.  To do that they have tapped Presto, a leader in the restaurant hospitality technology industry, as the exclusive provider of automated voice ordering for all its corporate-owned drive-thru restaurants.

When Checkers & Rally’s announced the partnership, it marked the largest and first of its kind rollout of an A.I.-based voice assistant solution in the hospitality industry.

The new system is designed to help restaurants maximize labor efficiency. The focus is that simple.   Presto’s next generation solutions help improve order accuracy, increase upsells, and provide a superior guest experience. The Presto systems are scheduled to be deployed across all corporate-owned Checkers & Rally’s restaurants in the United States in 2022.

Currently, over 80 percent of Checkers & Rally’s sales are being generated from the drive-thru, a clear indication that there is a growing opportunity for a frictionless drive-thru model such as Checkers & Rally’s. A faster, more efficient drive-thru can offer significant competitive advantages and reduce lines that may discourage customers from ordering.

So, in 2021, Checkers & Rally’s conducted a detailed pilot program of Presto’s automated voice ordering technology at multiple locations over a four-month period. During this time, Presto’s solution delivered a high level of automation and accuracy with over 98% of drive-thru orders completed with minimal intervention from restaurant employees. The Presto solution also performed well with unique or infrequently ordered menu items and easily managed various guest accents.

Frances Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer at Checkers & Rally’s, stated, “Checkers & Rally’s is the pioneer of the double drive-thru restaurant model, so our decision to again lead the industry with the largest rollout of an A.I.-based voice assistant solution should be no surprise,” ... “We are excited about this new era in partnership with Presto, a leader in the restaurant hospitality technology field. As a company, we embrace technology that will help our team members maximize time and efficiency while making their jobs easier and more enjoyable, creating a better experience for them as well as our guests.”

The Presto partnership is expected to enable Checkers & Rally’s to streamline the guest experience while increasing the guest-to-staff ratio in the drive-thru. By deploying Presto, Checkers & Rally’s believes that they can free up staff for more people-dependent areas of their business and enhance guest interaction overall.

Rajat Suri, Founder and CEO of Presto, stated, “We’re excited to be selected by Checkers & Rally’s as their exclusive drive-thru automated speech recognition partner for all their corporate-owned locations.”. “Checkers & Rally’s desire to take the industry forward through disruptive innovation is inspiring, and Presto is fully committed to supporting this bold vision.”

In case you did not know, Presto offers a powerful next-generation drive-thru voice solution that uses A.I. to automate speech recognition for restaurant drive-thru’s. This solution has been developed in partnership with Hi Auto, a conversational A.I. technology company focused on creating a human-like solution for automating and optimizing the sales experience at drive-thru restaurants.

Presto’s solutions take orders using automated A.I. that frees up staff by automatically transmitting orders to the restaurant’s POS system. The company believes that its solutions enable faster transactions and improve order accuracy by eliminating human order taking. They can also increase check sizes with automatic upselling and cross-selling.

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Checkers & Rally’s Partnerships Reduce Cost, Drive Profits & Growth

Building top line sales and bottom line profits in the restaurant business today requires a unit level focus according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Consumers today are dynamic not static and Checkers & Rally’s proved they are a dynamic as consumers when they announced the addition of new modular manufacturer partners, which will extend the reach of the brand’s popular modular restaurant design option.

Johnson said ‘Fast Food is simply getting faster and better at everything they do.” In addition to original modular partner Valiant, based in Florida, Checkers Rally’s franchisees will soon be able to work with two new modular partners in different regions of the country in California they partnered with Madison Industries and in Alabama with Z Modular according to the company.

Bret Cunningham, director of Design & Construction for Checkers & Rally’s stated “By aligning with these two new partners, we expand the geographic areas where we can build modular restaurants, so franchisees across the country can utilize the modular design,”... “Having regional partners reduces shipment costs and lead times, making the modular design even more attractive for our franchisees.”

Checkers & Rally’s franchisees that choose the modular option save money on buildout costs, and, because the units are built offsite in a controlled environment, there are no delays due to weather. With the modular design, franchisees are able to expand into markets that were once thought to be cost-prohibitive, and also save time spent securing city permits.

“Checkers & Rally’s is committed to increasing profitability for our franchisees, and that starts during the construction process,” says Jennifer Durham, Chief Development Officer of Checkers & Rally’s. “The modular option not only lowers buildout costs, but also speeds up the construction process so franchisees can open their restaurants and start making money more quickly. By adding two new modular manufacturers, we will be able to continue building up our development pipeline and provide regional options for our franchisees to continue growing with the brand.”

Checkers & Rally’s is set to open 60 new locations in 2018, with 18 of those restaurants utilizing the modular design. In 2019, 35 additional locations are already set to open, with another 111 approved locations in the pipeline. Is your company’s growth dynamic?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant

Fresher Faster Foodservice Growth at Checkers & Rally’s

Integrating brand messaging across your entire company is an arduous task however one of the foodservice companies that is very good at that is Checkers & Rally’s according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Checkers & Rally’s has effectively created a corporate platform where all departments are on the same page.  Currently Checkers & Rally’s is gearing up for a busy 2018, with more than 60 new restaurants slated to open this year, about 30 of which are modular build-outs edifying the brands fresh fast platform..

Checkers & Rally’s is slated to install 18 modular units by end of summer. The brand’s modular units are constructed offsite in a controlled environment, and are delivered to the location site and set via crane. Clearly this strategy allows Checkers & Rally’s franchisees to shave up to 12 weeks off of the development process, allowing for lower construction costs and minimizing time spent securing city permits and on construction.

The increased speed and lower costs allow Checkers & Rally’s corporate and franchisees to expand into markets that were once deemed cost-prohibitive. Once set, locations typically open 30–60 days later. Does your brand communicate effectively across all departments? 

So just what is your New Electricity? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us