Wendy’s Plans 500-Plus AI-Enhanced Drive-Thru Locations by the End of 2025

Wendy’s may be famous for its Baconator, Frosty, and iconic french fries, but now the fast-food restaurant chain might be making a name for itself in an entirely new fashion: the expansion of its AI-enhanced drive-thru service.

According to Restaurant Business, Wendy’s is set on expanding its FreshAI generative AI ordering process — which kicked off in 2023 — beyond the 100-plus locations where it has already installed the feature. By the time 2025 draws to a close, the chain seeks to have FreshAI operational in 500 to 600 of its drive-thrus.

CEO Kirk Tanner told analysts that the technology has thus far increased the average check, largely by unfailingly suggesting additional menu items to customers ordering through the drive-thru. Further, FreshAI has apparently increased labor efficiency at locations where it has been installed.

In Tanner’s experience, the technology continues to improve and has been part of the desired frictionless experience that time-sensitive customers are looking for.

“I put it to the test almost three or four times a week,” he said. “We have one close to us here in the office, and the experience is exceptional.” 

“It gives customers the opportunity to build their orders. It understands what to ask for and the accuracy is definitely improving,” Tanner added, per a Seeking Alpha transcript of the company’s Feb. 13 earnings call.

Reddit Reactions Largely Negative Over Wendy’s FreshAI Experience

Fast-food fans across Reddit, however, don’t seem to be as impressed over Wendy’s FreshAI experience, with multiple threads concerning generative AI drive-thru assistants being filled with negative feedback.

“I live near HQ so my local Wendy’s location is the flagship store, right across from corporate headquarters. That location is used as testing for a ton of random stuff. A few months ago they decided it would be a good idea to no longer have a human take your order and have an AI chatbot do it. It. Is. Horrible,” one user wrote last year.

“I can speak loud and clear and it would still take 3x to understand what I’m saying. The AI would keep cutting me off mid sentence. It would also cut you off if you paused at all when ordering for 0.5 seconds. It’s really annoying to have the bot try to figure out how to customize menu items (i.e. no pickle),” they added.

A second Reddit user had concerns over accessibility.

“As someone who stutters, AI voice anything is literally unusable in 2024. They will have to massively upgrade, revert, or risk the ADA coming at them,” they wrote.

“I had an AI take my order at Wendy’s the other day! I was livid. So I just started repeatedly shouting AGENT AGENT AGENT. The AI was dumbfounded! I got honked at by the car behind me. So then I tried to order like normal, quad Baconator and the AI got confused. It added a medium Sprite. I went back to shouting agent repeatedly, then ‘Jessica’ rudely asked me to calm down. Awful experience,” a third Redditor wrote.

Wendy’s FreshAI Joins Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., Checkers and Rally’s, Bojangles in AI Drive-Thru Blitz

Whatever the concerns about AI drive-thru ordering assistants, it appears that the technology isn’t going anywhere. In addition to Wendy’s expanding its FreshAI footprint, competitors such as Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., Checkers and Rally’s, and Bojangles are also signing on to similar experiences.

Further, as Restaurant Business underscored, other large fast-food chains such as Burger King, Dunkin’, and McDonald’s are eying the prospect as well.

The benefits of the AI order takers, as well as the increased number of kiosks on offer at most U.S. fast-food establishments, indicate that the power of the dollar is proceeding unabated over the customer complaints that do exist.

“This technology simplifies ordering and frees up crew members to focus on quality and accuracy,” Tanner said of the company’s further capital investment — which totaled $53 million for Wendy’s last year, per Restaurant Dive — in digital menu boards, kiosks, and AI order takers.