The parent company of brands like Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, is teaming up with tech giant Nvidia to bring more AI into its restaurants.
Over the next few months, the following tech will be rolled out:
- Voice-Activated Order-Taking AI Agents: These systems will handle orders at drive-thrus and improve call center operations by understanding menus and customer preferences. They’re also designed to adapt to natural speech.
- Computer Vision-Enhanced Operations: Nvidia’s computer vision technology will help boost drive-thru efficiency and optimize back-of-house operations by providing real-time data and alerts.
- Accelerated Restaurant Intelligence: AI-powered analytics will evaluate restaurant performance and offer managers personalized action plans based on the top-performing locations.
With over 61,000 locations around the world, Yum Brands is the largest restaurant company and the first to partner with Nvidia in the AI space.
“This partnership will help us tap into the rich consumer and operational data sets on our Byte by Yum platform to build smarter AI systems, making experiences easier for both our customers and team members,” said Joe Park, chief digital & technology officer at Yum Brands.
Testing has already begun at several Taco Bell and Pizza Hut locations in the U.S. And plans are to roll this out to 500 restaurants across Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, and Habit Burger & Grill by the second quarter of the year.
The tech will be fully integrated into Yum’s in-house platform, Byte by Yum, which launched earlier this year. Byte includes tools for online and mobile ordering, payments, and managing menus, inventory, and labor. Over time, the company has phased out older systems and branding—like Poseidon—now all housed under Byte.
Related: Yum Brands Centralizes All Tech
This collab with Nvidia takes things to the next level. Yum will own the intelligence created through the partnership, giving them the flexibility to customize—like adding more advanced AI models in the future.
Looking ahead, the restaurant group is exploring AI agents that can think, plan, and assist within the restaurant setting. Powered by Nvidia’s software, this tech will be exclusive to Yum allowing the company to keep customizing and improving it as they go.
