How Bojangles Is Using AI to Serve Drive-Through Traffic – Digital Transactions
For some restaurant chains, innovation is coming in force to the common drive-through, with the latest example emerging early Thursday with the chicken-sandwich operator Bojangles’ announcement that it is extending an agreement to deploy an AI-based drive-through ordering technology from Tel Aviv-based Hi Auto Ltd.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Bojangles, which operates some 890 locations in 24 states, began testing the system several years ago at about 50 locations before adding hundreds of company-owned and franchised stores more than two years ago. The chain now operates the ordering system, called Bo-Linda, at almost 500 stores and plans to add 100 more by the middle of next year.
Now, Bo-Linda is processing more than 1 million orders weekly with what the company says is a 98% success rate. “This has given us the confidence to continue and expand Bo-Linda,” says Richard Del Valle, chief information officer at the chain, in a statement. The length of the extension with Hi Auto could not be immediately determined.
New features for the system include an upsell capability that can allow for real-time recommendations when time allows, letting the chain upsell at busy times without slowing down service or adding people, Bojangles says. The stores feature two lanes, so the system also permits pairing photos of customer vehicles with orders to allow for accurate delivery.
Hi Auto says it serves more than 1,000 stores in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia. Besides Bojangles, clients include Checkers & Rally’s, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, and Burger King in New Zealand and Popeyes in the U.K. It operates in the United States out of a regional headquarters in Dayton, Ohio.
