The following report is by The Wall Street Journal (excerpts):
Led by Joe Park, Yum’s new chief digital and technology officer, the fast-food giant has been increasing its investment in technology and automation. About 45%, or about $30 billion, of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum’s sales are digital, Park said, roughly double the level in 2019.
Our vision of [quick-service restaurants] is that an AI-first mentality works every step of the way. If you think about the major journeys within a restaurant that can be AI-powered, we believe it’s endless.
Park said in an interview.
The company declined to say how much it is spending on technology. A Feb. 7 earnings report showed $21 million last year, up from $11 million in 2022, for charges associated with a resource optimization program Yum said helped reallocate resources to “accelerate our digital, technology and innovation capabilities.”
Since the pandemic, fast-food chains have increased investing in technologies like digital ordering and more drive-throughs, betting those trends will last. Now, pressured by higher labor costs—including California’s new minimum wage law—and inflation-weary customers, more fast-food operators are banking on AI to drive sales and help lower costs.
Park said he sees a future where AI is in every aspect of Yum’s restaurants, with generative AI—the technology behind ChatGPT—in the pockets of franchisees.
Yum’s SuperApp, a mobile app for restaurant managers to track and manage operations—Park calls it “a coach in your pocket”—is testing a generative AI boost, he said. Team members can ask the app questions like “How should I set this oven temperature?” rather than turning to training materials or tapping through an app interface.
A lot of that gets automated in the future, where you don’t have to interface directly with the technology. You can do it through generative AI.
He said.
The goal is for SuperApp, now in use in more than 8,700 Pizza Hut and KFC locations, to connect technology systems so franchisees can order ingredients and schedule shifts without leaving the app, Park said. SuperApp can also be updated as features are developed, such as with an augmented reality tool for teaching employees how to make new products like Pizza Hut Melts.
Tech fees paid by franchise owners help fund Yum’s AI investments, Park said. Yum declined to say how much it charges franchisees.
Like its competitors, Yum is testing generative AI’s use for customers, such as voice AI for drive-through orders. The company is also looking into image-recognition AI to count cars and waiting times in a drive-through, as well as digitally linked and managed kitchen appliances, Park said.
While the introduction of AI and robots has raised concerns of displacing humans, a Yum spokesperson said its employees will always play a critical role, though there is “powerful opportunity to leverage technology to elevate restaurant team members’ experiences.”
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
“Elevate restaurant team members’ experiences?” You mean after you send them packing a year or two when AI and robots took all their positions? Look at what McDonalds is doing: they have a location that’s fully-automated, and only has a manager and maybe one or two employees are there just to make sure it’s functioning. SEE: Fully-Autonomous McDonald’s Opens In Texas
I reported on Yum!’s ambitions a year ago, and it very clearly will displace workers. This is what happens when you blend convenience, laziness, and greed all into one.
Read up on all the other restaurants and chains doing something similar.
[25] The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. [26] He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not. Proverbs 21:25-26
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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When the C19 scam came on the scene, my husband and I would go out to eat at independent restaurants that attempted to use that creepy box to scan to view the menu (because everything had cooties, don’t you know). Server would ask what we wanted and I said, ‘don’t know, need a menu’. Server would point to the creepy box, and I replied, ‘not doing that, recite the menu to me.’ Wouldn’t you know, a menu magically appears!
Now AI isn’t really ‘artificial intelligence’. Who is it that counterfeits? Oh yeah, satan! AI is Antichrist Intelligence. It’s satan’s springboard into the lives of those unaware of his ‘devices’. Interesting word, don’t you think? Devices. They. are. everywhere.
The days when no man can work are rapidly approaching.
It’s a shame that people still eat at either of those places (& they probably won’t be for long). It will be like those eggs too expensive to eat….& just as self-defeating. McDonald’s has been off our list for a long time, Pizza Huts have gone downhill & been poorly managed & manned for years….& fake Mexican just don’t get it! lol! If folks hadn’t abandoned God’s order for family & keeper at home, being dragged into humanist bondage & busyness, those places wouldn’t even exist.