Voice AI Becomes a Moneymaker

Companies across the hospitality industry are quickly changing a major part of their business model, adding artificial intelligence-powered voice ordering as a state-of-the-art option for customers who love innovation.

And for these companies, there’s a surprise twist: The technology has become so good in just the past few years that many customers don’t even know that they are using it.

Recent research from Intouch Insights, a customer experience and mystery shopping platforms provider, found that only 19 percent of consumers say they have placed orders at their favorite quick-service restaurants using voice technologies. But it says those numbers are probably a lot higher.

Among those who were aware of the technology’s use at their favorite restaurants, 65 reported a positive experience, according to Intouch Insight’s research.

But even more telling for both consumers and the locations that are fielding the technology is the fact that several recent studies have found that AI-powered voice systems can accurately handle more than 90 percent of orders without human intervention, while the typical accuracy rate for human operators ranges between 80 percent and 85 percent. This boost in order accuracy is expected to profoundly impact the guest experience and overall satisfaction.

Experts also expect that as hospitality industry locations increasingly implement voice-ordering AI, positive feedback from early users will drive broader acceptance and satisfaction in the future.

Furthermore, as more restaurants and hotels introduce the technology or roll it out to additional locations, experts foresee the capabilities and features available continuing to improve as well.

How Far We’ve Come

Already today’s voice-enabled systems have come a long way from the speaker systems that many quick-service restaurants started using at their drive-thru windows more than 50 years ago. “Unlike traditional drive-thru systems that rely on a microphone and a human on the other end, today’s AI agents can understand natural language, handle complex orders, upsell, and send orders directly to the kitchen autonomously. Voice AI maximizes efficiency without compromising the guest experience,” says Sunny Nunda, global vice president of enterprise sales at SoundHound AI, one of the leading purveyors of voice AI ordering technology.

Rather than the simple speaker systems of decades ago, today’s voice systems are loaded with lots of advanced technology, including natural language understanding, noise filtering, real-time adaptation, specialized voice models, and proprietary deep neural network-powered automatic speech recognition. Most systems today are also tightly integrated with point-of-sale and kitchen management systems, and they handle far more than just drive-thru traffic.

SoundHound’s voice AI technology can greet customers, take orders, visually confirm requests, and list options to speed up transactions. This AI voice platform offers instant, continuous audiovisual feedback in response to verbal commands and ignores off-topic speech. It also answers a broad range of menu questions and even provides information about opening times, parking, allergens, and more. The AI answers 100 percent of calls and can even take multiple orders at once.

“Restaurants can use voice-ordering agents to take orders via phone and integrate with their own delivery systems or place orders for pickup,” Nunda says. “We’ve seen significant growth in this area because phone orders still make up a large share of off-premises dining, especially for local or regional chains. Many of these calls go unanswered during peak hours. Our ordering agents ensure every call is answered instantly, helping restaurants capture revenue that would have otherwise been lost. We also provide solutions for kiosks.”

Already a large number of companies have been rolling out voice-ordering technologies across their operations. In just the past year or so, these have included McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy’s, Panera Bread, Jersey Mike’s, Checkers, Chipotle, White Castle, Casey’s General Stores, Hardee’s, and Carl’s Jr.

Donatos Pizza installed one such system from Revmo AI in its 174 restaurants in just the past few months to automate phone orders.

“We’re always looking for innovative ways to better serve our customers and drive our business forward,” explained Kevin King, CEO and president of Donatos Pizza, in a statement. “Revmo’s voice AI ordering system allows us to provide a more convenient and consistent experience for our guests. We expect this technology to not only delight our customers but also increase order conversions and revenue across our stores.”

And Church’s Texas Chicken started rolling out SoundHound’s voice-ordering AI system across its drive-thru locations late last year. “At Church’s, our guests’ experience is extremely important to us, and we are always looking for innovative ways to help improve service and the overall guest engagement,” said Ahnaf Ali, chief information officer of Church’s Texas Chicken, in a statement. “SoundHound’s AI technology will enable us to process orders faster with greater efficiency, reduce wait times, and streamline team workflows.”

Taco Bell first brought in Omilia’s voice AI system in a limited pilot in 2023 and continually measured performance metrics and gathered feedback from restaurant teams, customers, and franchisees to ensure the solution was performing as expected.

Now deployed at more than 540 of Taco Bell’s U.S. stores, the voice AI system has more than surpassed expectations.

The company quickly reached a 90 percent success rate, according to Omilia founder and CEO Dimitris Vassos. “We’re seeing some results we didn’t expect there. We knew that we would be reducing their labor needs, but some of the franchisees opt instead to increase the quality of the service that they provide. They see lower employee attrition. They are happier with AI in the mix. People say that AI is going to take people’s jobs, but at Taco Bell, it’s taking over tasks that people don’t want to do and creating more satisfied employees,” he says.

“Tapping into AI gives us the ability to ease team members’ workloads, freeing them to focus on front-of-house hospitality,” Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s chief digital and technology officer, said in a statement. “It also enables us to unlock new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers.”

At locations like these, voice-ordering technology enables staff to focus on more advanced customer needs and helps sites grow revenue, provide better customer experiences, and address staffing concerns.

“AI agents are increasingly being adopted by restaurants to streamline and enhance their operations,” Nunda says. “Adoption has accelerated due to persistent labor shortages, inflation, and supply chain challenges. Technology can help alleviate these pressures, and the impact is clear. For employees, AI agents can reduce the burden on staff by taking over routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks such as food preparation and customer service.”

Restaurant owners also benefit because AI agents optimize their operations by moving lines quicker, which increases sales. Systems can also autonomously provide opportunities for cross-selling and upselling and even plug promotions to boost the bottom line, according to Nunda.

“On average across multiple restaurants we have seen a 30 percent uplift in check size and a three times to five times increase specifically in upselling,” he says.

Vassos adds that his company’s voice AI system at Taco Bell upsells in a more methodical and predictable way than a human might, leading to additional revenue for the restaurants.

The desire to increase revenue has also seen voice-ordering technology expand to other modalities. Just in the past few months, SoundHound added seamless omnichannel ordering to its Dynamic Drive-Thru solution. Now, restaurants can extend their AI automation beyond the drive-thru lane to include Call-to-Order, Text-to-Order, Scan-to-Order, and In-Car Voice Ordering.

“AI in restaurants is no longer optional; it’s the new standard. The future is omnichannel, and our advanced platform gives restaurants the flexibility to integrate automation across every customer touchpoint,” said James Hom, chief product officer of SoundHound, in a statement.

Checking in at Hotels

As voice technology advances, and for many of the same reasons that it is growing at such a rapid pace in restaurants, it is also rapidly expanding at hotels, as AI agents handle front desk and concierge services. Resorts World Las Vegas was an early pioneer in this regard, having introduced RED, a digital concierge AI agent powered by Amelia (which has since been acquired by SoundHound), in 2020. Guests can speak with RED to make dinner reservations, buy show tickets, order room service, set wake-up calls, and more.

Other automated workflows in hotel systems include relaying basic hotel information, such as location, phone number, and amenities; checking reservation status; cancelling reservations; collecting and applying loyalty program information; and processing hotel gift cards.

In the hotel industry, Canary Technologies, a provider of AI-powered guest management technology, is one of the leaders. The company supports more than 20,000 hotels worldwide, including Marriott, Wyndham, Best Western, Aimbridge Hospitality, TUI Hotels & Resorts, and others, and it sees tremendous opportunities for even more robust growth.

“The hospitality industry is entering a new era powered by AI,” says Harman Singh Narula, CEO and cofounder of Canary. “Through intelligent, enterprise-grade solutions, we’re helping hotels run smarter, deliver faster service, and create more personalized guest experiences at scale. We’re energized by the strong demand and excited to expand our partnerships with many of the world’s leading hoteliers.”

The Keys to Success

Restaurants and hotels achieving the most success with voice AI systems have selected AI agents designed for their specific environments, Nunda says. Systems should also be able to handle real-time modifications based on menu changes, special promotions, product availability, and other factors and operate reliably during peak hours, he adds.

However, there are challenges with such complex technology. “A common mistake operators make is underestimating the complexity of implementing AI. It’s not just about plugging in a voice interface. It requires deep expertise, high-quality training data, and a proven track record of success,” he continues.

Another misstep is assuming all systems are created equal, Nunda adds. “When evaluating providers, we encourage operators to ask tough questions: Is the technology built in-house or reliant on a third-party LLM? Can it be easily customized to match your brand and menu? Are there latency issues that could frustrate customers?” 

Fueling a Larger in-Car Voice Commerce Experience

Consumers are eager to embrace in-car voice commerce, pointing to an untapped opportunity for automakers to unlock new monetization and revenue streams, deepen customer loyalty, and enhance the in-car experience, with the technology projected to be worth $35 billion annually, according to new research from SoundHound AI.

Voice commerce integrates ordering, payments, loyalty, and navigation directly into cars’ voice assistants to provide hands-free experiences powered entirely by voice.

According to the independent study, 73 percent of U.S. drivers who use or have access to voice assistants in their vehicles are willing to share value in exchange for voice commerce functionality. Specifically, 46 percent would pay to access the service, 18 percent would pay per transaction, 29 percent would pay a small subscription fee, 31 percent are open to hearing a few ads per hour, and 29 percent would share personal data.

This consumer openness presents automakers with multiple monetization pathways, ranging from paid premium services to ad-supported experiences and data-driven personalization, delivering a new, post-sale revenue engine that adds to the customer experience, according to SoundHound.

Other findings from the study include the following:

• 69 percent of consumers in the market for a new vehicle would prefer a car with in-car voice commerce capabilities over one without. For automakers, this adds a new layer of opportunity, differentiation, and revenue upside during the consideration phase.
• 72 percent of respondents said they would ask their voice assistants for product or service recommendations, positioning the assistants as trusted consumer companions and the car companies as facilitators of everyday needs. This behavior transforms the cockpit experience into a recurring brand engagement and commerce touchpoint.
• When participants were presented with specific use cases, 76 percent were interested in using it for food ordering, 73 percent for vehicle maintenance, 71 percent for parking, 59 percent for entertainment planning, and 58 percent for impulse retail purchases.

Example queries include the following:

• “Find a restaurant for date night and make a reservation for 7 p.m.”
• “What does this dashboard light mean? Book me a service appointment.”
• “Order ingredients for sausage and peppers from the grocery store and navigate me to the store for pickup.”
• “Find parking near the movie theater.”

“In-vehicle voice commerce is not only about convenience for drivers; it’s also a strategic revenue and retention opportunity for automakers,” said Michael Zagorsek, chief operating officer of SoundHound, in a statement.

SoundHound has gone all-in on the voice commerce front. Earlier this year, the company introduced a vehicle voice commerce platform that enables drivers and passengers to order takeout for pickup directly through a car’s infotainment system.

Users can ask the system to locate restaurants serving specific foods, obtain more specific menu info, place orders, pay for the meal, and even get GPS guidance to the location.

“This incredible moment has been decades in the making. With a technology that can exceed expectations, an ecosystem of millions of cars connecting to national restaurant brands with thousands of locations, we can finally launch the vision we have talked about for years,” said Keyvan Mohajer, SoundHound CEO and cofounder, when the platform was unveiled. “What we’re introducing is a seamless way to order your favorite takeout on the go using natural speech, completely hands-free, from the vehicle. And what begins here with food and restaurants will ultimately open up a whole new commercial ecosystem for vehicle and device manufacturers everywhere.”

Phillip Britt is a freelance writer based in the Chicago area. He can be reached at spenterprises1@comcast.net.