Burger King is rolling out a new AI assistant designed to help staff with day-to-day operations, while also tracking how friendly employee interactions are at the drive-thru.
The system, called Patty, is a voice-enabled chatbot that lives inside employee headsets and is part of the company’s broader BK Assistant platform. Alongside helping with food prep and operations, Patty is trained to recognize phrases tied to customer service, including “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.”
According to Burger King’s chief digital officer, Thibault Roux, the company used feedback from franchisees and customers to determine how friendliness should be measured. Managers can then ask the AI how their location is performing on friendliness metrics.
Patty powers Burger King’s new AI assistant platform
“This is all meant to be a coaching tool,” Roux said. He added that Burger King is also “iterating” on ways to capture tone in conversations.
Patty runs on OpenAI technology and acts as the voice layer for BK Assistant, which connects multiple parts of restaurant operations, including drive-thru conversations, kitchen equipment, inventory systems, and point-of-sale data.
Employees can use the chatbot for quick operational guidance, such as checking how many strips of bacon go on a Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper or asking for instructions on cleaning the shake machine.
Because the system is connected to Burger King’s cloud-based point-of-sale platform, it can also alert managers when equipment goes down or when items run out of stock. Roux said that once an item is marked unavailable, the system updates menus across the entire ecosystem within 15 minutes, including kiosks, drive-thrus, and digital menu boards.
While Patty is being integrated into employee headsets, Burger King says it is taking a cautious approach to fully AI-powered drive-thrus.
“We’re tinkering with it, we’re playing around with it, but it’s still a risky bet,” Roux said. “Not every guest is ready for this.”
The company is currently testing AI drive-thru technology in fewer than 100 restaurants. Meanwhile, Patty is already piloting in 500 locations.
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