Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and WingStreet, is acquiring Dragontail Systems, a provider of high-tech kitchen equipment to help restaurants manage kitchen flow, control food quality, and seamlessly control the delivery process. The agreement between the two brands will allow Yum to scale Dragontail’s artificial intelligence across its global portfolio of restaurants.
Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Dragontail’s platform is focused on optimizing and managing the entire food preparation process from order through delivery. Its AI-based solution automates the kitchen flow combined with the process of dispatching drivers. The technology can also operate with outside food delivery partners. In addition, Dragontail’s platform offers consumer-facing capabilities that enable customers to track their order.
Adding Dragontail to Yum Brands’ growing technology portfolio is intended to give Yum Brands the ability to scale artificial intelligence kitchen order management and delivery technology globally.
“With Dragontail, we expect to tap into the power of AI to accelerate and further enhance our delivery technology capabilities, especially at Pizza Hut, and optimize the end-to-end food preparation process,” said Chris Turner, chief financial officer, Yum Brands.
Dragontail’s Managing Director, Ido Levanon, said, “Dragontail’s Board of Directors fully supports this transaction, which it considers to be an attractive opportunity for its shareholders. It will also provide Yum Brands with innovative technology.”
Dragontail’s platform is currently deployed across nearly 1,500 Pizza Hut restaurants in over 10 countries. If the acquisition is successfully implemented, Yum Brands intends to offer Dragontail’s platform to its brands around the world over time.
Completion of the acquisition of Dragontail will mark Yum Brands’ third technology acquisition in 2021. In March, the Kentucky-based company acquired the business of Kvantum, Inc., an AI-based consumer insights and marketing performance analytics company, and Tictuk Technologies, an omnichannel ordering and marketing platform company which allows consumers to order KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill through text, social media and other conversational channels.
