Dairy Queen is putting an AI chatbot in its drive-thrus
The fast-food chain aims to speed up service and boost order sizes with 90% accurate AI ordering.
Dairy Queen is launching a widespread rollout of an AI-powered chatbot at its drive-thrus, becoming the latest fast-food chain to automate ordering. The technology, built by Presto—a company that also services Carl's Jr., Hardee's, and others—aims to speed up service and strategically upsell customers. Following a test last year, the chain is deploying the bot to 'select' franchises across the US and Canada. Kevin Baartman, Dairy Queen's EVP of IT, noted the system handled a surge of customers during a free ice cream cone promotion without issue, stating 'the bots responded to lines of cars and never got crabby.'
Presto's chatbot achieves order accuracy around 90%, according to The Wall Street Journal. This move places Dairy Queen alongside other chains like Wendy's and McDonald's in experimenting with AI drive-thrus, though the sector has faced challenges. A 2023 Bloomberg report suggested Presto's AI may be assisted by remote human workers, and Taco Bell recently reevaluated its own AI rollout after customer frustration. Meanwhile, Burger King is testing a different approach by using an AI 'coach' in employee headphones to measure friendliness and assist with meal prep.
- Dairy Queen is deploying Presto's AI chatbot to drive-thrus in dozens of US and Canadian locations to speed service and increase order size.
- The Presto system reportedly achieves about 90% order accuracy and successfully handled a high-volume free ice cream cone day test.
- This follows industry-wide testing by chains like Wendy's and McDonald's, though some, like Taco Bell, have faced customer pushback on AI ordering.
Why It Matters
This marks a major real-world test of AI in high-volume customer service, aiming to reduce labor costs and increase sales through automated upselling.