Dive Brief:
- Torchy’s Tacos has added SoundHound’s voice AI ordering phone tech across its entire 130-store restaurant system, the companies said in a Thursday announcement.
- The voice ordering tool handles 100% of incoming calls and can address multiple phone orders at once, according to the press release.
- Voice AI ordering is a growing tech trend in the restaurant industry, with brands like Jersey Mike’s testing SoundHound’s phone AI and Bojangles and Taco Bell rolling out drive-thru voice AI.
Dive Insight:
In addition to taking orders, SoundHound claims its voice bot can respond to questions about the menu and specials and provide store hours and allergen information, allowing Torchy’s workers to handle other store tasks. The phone ordering system has been trained on the entirety of Torchy’s menu, meaning it can process even highly customized orders.
Torchy’s tech chief Thai Tran said the phone order feature is easy for guests to use and that it has high accuracy.
The companies did not immediately respond to a request to clarify how much of Torchy’s business came from phone orders.
SoundHound says its voice ordering tools, including phone tech and drive-thru AI, have been deployed across upwards of 10,000 restaurant locations. In addition to Jersey Mike’s and Torchy’s, the tech company also works with chains like Beef O’ Brady’s and White Castle in addition to Square and Toast.
