customer experience

How AI Is Changing Quick-Service Restaurant Ordering in 2026

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In 2026, AI is significantly enhancing quick-service restaurant (QSR) ordering by enabling personalized menu recommendations, conversational ordering interfaces, and smarter upselling suggestions based on customer preferences and purchasing patterns. AI-driven voice ordering and predictive analytics improve convenience and operational efficiency, while automated customer support addresses routine inquiries, helping staff focus on complex issues. However, QSRs must prioritize data privacy, accuracy, and human oversight to ensure AI delivers reliable, user-friendly ordering experiences without compromising customer trust.

https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/how-ai-is-changing-quick-service-restaurant-ordering-in-2026/

Why Chick-fil-A’s View on Drive-Thru AI Is the Right One

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Chick-fil-A has taken a deliberate stance against using AI bots for drive-thru ordering, emphasizing the importance of human interaction in providing hospitality. The chain’s approach reflects a belief that maintaining personal engagement enhances the customer experience, rather than fully automating the ordering process with AI.

https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/why-chick-fil-view-drive-thru-ai-right-one

The Race to Build a Better Drive-Thru

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Quick-service brands Ziggi’s Coffee, Hawaiian Bros, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and Freddy’s are redesigning drive-thru operations to balance speed, accuracy, convenience, and hospitality as drive-thrus have become their most frequent guest interaction point. Their approaches include kitchen workflow optimization, technology integration like AI analytics, dedicated pickup lanes for digital orders, and employee training focused on personal engagement, aiming to enhance the overall customer experience while managing operational challenges across varied franchise locations.

https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/the-race-to-build-a-better-drive-thru/

Chick-fil-A Draws a Line on Drive-Thru AI

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Chick-fil-A has decided not to replace drive-thru order-taking employees with AI-driven voice systems, unlike competitors such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s. Instead, it focuses on technology that enhances employee-led service, exemplified by its elevated McDonough, Georgia location that uses conveyors and digital ordering to improve efficiency while preserving face-to-face interaction. This approach emphasizes human hospitality as a core brand element and reflects the chain’s strong sales performance, though it may not be suitable for all operators facing labor challenges.

https://streetfightmag.com/2026/10/06/chick-fil-a-draws-a-line-on-drive-thru-ai/

How Restaurants Use Kiosks Without Losing the Human Touch

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Restaurants like Gong cha integrate kiosks with personalized service by greeting customers at arrival and using staff to assist with questions and order pickups, ensuring technology complements rather than replaces human interaction. Industry data shows customers appreciate kiosks for convenience and control, but operators recognize the need for clear signage, staff support, and managing where and how human contact occurs during orders. Investments in kiosk technology continue alongside efforts to balance automation with hospitality, emphasizing flexibility and attention at key service moments.

https://www.kioskmarketplace.com/articles/how-restaurants-use-kiosks-without-losing-the-human-touch/

The Next Generation of QSRs Part 3: Why Operational Excellence Is the Modern Competitive Advantage

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Leading quick-service restaurant brands like McDonald’s and Wendy’s are shifting their growth strategies toward operational excellence, focusing on execution, technology integration, food quality, hospitality, and workforce development to drive customer satisfaction and profitability. This approach emphasizes productivity gains through better training, cross-training, and leveraging technology to improve efficiency and labor utilization, positioning operational execution as the key driver for long-term competitive advantage and sustained system growth.

https://www.qsrweb.com/articles/the-next-generation-of-qsrs-part-3-why-operational-excellence-is-the-modern-competitive-advantage/

Fast Food Giants Are Reversing Its Course on AI as Customers Crave Human Connection

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Major fast-food chains like Burger King and McDonald’s are shifting away from AI-driven ordering systems in response to customer preference for human interaction, with studies showing about 80% of diners favor ordering from humans over AI. This trend includes initiatives to enhance staff-to-customer engagement through in-person greetings and order accuracy checks, emphasizing qualities AI cannot replicate such as accountability and personal connection. Operators recognize that while technology can aid operations, preserving hospitality is essential to the overall customer experience.

https://www.independent.co.uk/us/money/mcdonalds-burger-king-fast-food-ai-humans-b3051426.html

I’m Done Pretending the Guest Is Always Right

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Will Guidara’s book Unreasonable Hospitality popularized the ideal of exceeding guest expectations in fine dining but has inadvertently set impractical standards for many restaurants, especially smaller businesses struggling post-pandemic. Industry veteran Adam Reiner argues that this ethos places unreasonable pressure on hospitality workers and promotes a skewed expectation that may harm restaurant sustainability; instead, he advocates for embracing “reasonable hospitality” that values consistent, heartfelt service without demanding extraordinary gestures. The article highlights the need for a balanced hospitality model acknowledging both guest satisfaction and worker well-being amid operational and economic challenges.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/will-guidara-unreasonable-hospitality-criticism

McDonald’s Head of Technology on Why Ready on Arrival Is a Customer Experience Story

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McDonald’s Ready on Arrival system uses geofencing to detect when a mobile order customer is approaching and alerts the kitchen to start preparing food just in time, reducing wait times and easing pressure on restaurant operations. The technology enhances the mobile order experience by proactively managing demand, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty, and requires careful staff training to integrate into restaurant workflows. McDonald’s is scaling this initiative globally with a focus on consistent customer experience and operational readiness, emphasizing that the value lies in solving real customer problems rather than the technology itself.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2026/08/mcdonalds-head-of-technology-on-why-ready-on-arrival-is-a-customer-experience-story/

Restaurants Can’t Automate Hospitality

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The article argues that while restaurants can automate certain operational tasks, the core element of hospitality—personalized, empathetic customer interaction—cannot be automated. It emphasizes that human connection remains vital for creating memorable dining experiences, suggesting that technology should support rather than replace staff in delivering hospitality.

https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/restaurants-cant-automate-hospitality/827363/

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