The next time you shout your order at a fast food drive-thru, you could be speaking to a robot.
Chicago startup Encounter AI, founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Derrick Johnson and Kabah Conda, is bringing an artificially intelligent assistant---similar to Siri or Alexa---to fast food restaurants' drive-thru ordering systems. The voice-enabled assistant, called "Mai," can collect and process orders made at the drive-thru, freeing up fast food employees to work on more "high value" tasks.
Encounter AI is pilot testing its technology at several drive-thru restaurants in Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis. It's currently working with three of the top 20 fast food brands in the U.S., Johnson said---though he declined to name them specifically, citing non-disclosure agreements. The startup works with restaurants at the franchisee level, working with each business on an individual basis.
Bringing voice commerce to restaurant drive-thrus makes sense. The ordering process is fairly straightforward at most restaurants. With hundreds of hours of order-taking experience under its belt, Encounter AI is currently around 85 percent accurate, Johnson said. If someone orders a No. 1 with a large fry and a coke, the technology can nail that order every time, Johnson said. Issues arise when someone tries to have a more complicated conversation at the ordering screen, like beginning with pleasantries about the fast food employee's day, or asking if they can have two bottom buns on their burger, for example.
Its current pilot tests are designed specifically for these edge cases, Johnson said, as Encounter AI's natural language processing learns these less-common ordering questions and becomes smarter over time. Today, if Mai is unable to process an order, it flags a manager for review.
The fast food industry has been notorious for high job turnover. In fact, a report last year found that fast food is experiencing its highest workforce turnover in 23 years. Johnson said Encounter AI allows restaurants to move an employee off the drive-thru window and onto a more fulfilling role. It also opens up potential jobs in artificial intelligence and other positions around the setup and maintenance of the technology.
However, as with any new technology that focuses on automation, the inevitable conversation around robots taking our jobs follows. Johnson acknowledged that, as restaurants battle high labor and food costs, Encounter AI could help establishments save money by reducing headcount. But those costs savings can also help keep restaurants from going under completely.
"Right now we’re talking to a franchisee, he’s doing $400,000 in sales annually. For him, it's not profitable," Johnson said. "He’s barely breaking even. His only option right now is labor reduction or shutting down. For that person, we’re giving them a fighting chance."
Encounter AI is backed by a small amount of seed capital from Silicon Valley-based Unusual Ventures, and Johnson said the startup is eyeing a larger VC round soon. It also participated in Y Combinator's Startup School, a 10-week online program led by the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator program.
Encounter AI, which also has an office in the Valley, plans to bring its pilot tests to restaurants on the West Coast next. Down the road, Johnson said it wants to incorporate its voice assistant into more aspects of food service and retail, such as allowing customers to check a store's inventory and sizing via a voice-enabled bot on site.
