Jersey Mike’s Subs streamlines voice orders with AI
Jersey Mike’s Subs is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to take food and drink orders via phone with less effort and greater accuracy.
The fast casual sandwich retailer is deploying a voice AI ordering system from SoundHound AI. The solution is optimized for natural human speech to help ensure that Jersey Mike’s customers don’t have to modify their language or interact awkwardly with the software, and instead just speak naturally as they would to a human associate.
Initially live at 50 locations, the SoundHound voice technology has been trained on the entirety of Jersey Mike’s menu and uses advanced AI to recognize items instantly as customers are talking. As well as taking orders, the voice AI technology also answers a range of menu questions (e.g., about specials and promotions) and provides information such as opening times, parking, and allergens.
The solution answers 100% of calls and can take multiple orders at once, which frees up employees to focus on serving in-store customers and preparing food.
“Jersey Mike’s customers know that we strive to provide quality in everything we do. The way we choose technology is no different,” said Scott Scherer, CIO, Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems Inc. “AI is becoming an important part of supporting restaurant staff and providing impeccable customer service, so we’ve partnered with SoundHound because they have the experience and expertise to make sure that our customers get their favorite sub exactly how they like it on time, every time.”
Fast-casual food retailers automate voice orders with AI voice solutions
Jersey Mike’s is the latest fast-casual food retailer to leverage AI in its voice ordering process. Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken recently implememted voice cloning technology, which records and captures all the nuances of a particular person’s voice, including tone, accent and dialect. in its drive-thru operation.
In another example, Wendy's is piloting Google Cloud AI technology in a Columbus, Ohio-area, company-operated restaurant. The pilot will utilize Google Cloud generative AI solutions, such as Vertex AI, to automatically conduct conversations with customers, understand made-to-order requests and generate responses to frequently asked questions.
In addition, Del Taco Restaurants Inc. is running the AI-based Presto Voice solution on a 24/7 basis at select store locations. And Panera Bread began testing AI technology from OpenCity in drive-thru lanes at select stores in the greater Rochester, N.Y. area in August 2022.