Improved Order Accuracy And More Upsells Drove Checkers To Install Automated Voice Ordering

Having committed to rolling out automated voice ordering in drive-thru lanes at its corporate-owned restaurants, Checkers Drive-in Restaurants Inc. expects the new technology will improve order accuracy and significantly increase ticket sizes through more efficient upselling practices.

Checkers’ commitment to automated voice ordering, which it announced Monday, comes at a time when consumers are readily embracing contactless ordering and payment technology due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the trend made Checkers drive-thru lanes busier than they were pre-pandemic, the company says. Installing the technology at its drive-thru restaurants will eliminate the potential for order-entry errors by staff. Checkers operates restaurants under the Checkers and Rally’s brands.

“The drive-thru is a fast-paced environment and the aim here is to minimize the opportunity for human error,” Checkers and Rally’s president and chief executive Frances Allen says by email. “In regard to order accuracy, there is no need to worry about fast-moving fingers mistaking something on the POS or mishearing something due to loud noises in the restaurant or by the ordering vehicle, as the automated assistant repeats back orders to the guest and the guest confirms.”

The technology can also significantly increase the potential to boost order sizes through automated upselling because the technology is programmed to ask customers if they want a beverage or additional side dish with their order, for example. “[This will] relieve any pressure on team members who may have innocently forgotten or missed the opportunity to upsell,” Allen says.

One reason upsell opportunities are missed by employees working drive-thru windows is that staff can be overwhelmed by the volume, especially during peak periods, and they simply forget to attempt an upsell. 

“For up-sells, fatigue is a big challenge for the staff,” Rajul Misra, vice president of marketing for Presto,  which is supplying Checkers with the artificial intelligence-based voice-ordering technology, says by email. “The AI system offers up-sell 300% more.”

Drive-thru lanes are a central part of the Checkers business model. The Checkers and Rally’s model has two drive-thru lanes and no dining rooms. Drive-thru business is about 79% of Checkers sales, with walk-up customers representing 8% of sales and delivery representing 13%, according to the company. 

“Our delivery orders certainly accelerated during Covid, and our observation is that was due to a large portion of consumers preferring to order and have their food delivered to them at home versus venturing out,” Allen says. “Ultimately, convenience and speed are a priority for our guests, and we’re well-positioned with our model to meet those demands.”

Checkers is piloting the technology at 10 corporate-owned double drive-thru locations, with plans to roll it out to all corporate locations in the United States in 2022.