Burger King pulls back on drive-thru AI.

In September 2026 Burger King said at the FSTEC conference that it was scaling back AI voice ordering in its drive-thrus.

Burger King has been testing AI voice ordering in its drive-thrus for several years, with Google among its partners. Last week it said it’s pulling back.

Speaking at FSTEC, Chakri Somisetti, its VP of brand technologies, said that forcing customers to order through AI “doesn’t go well”. Pilot restaurants have seen drive offs. People pull up, hear a bot and leave. The chain will keep testing in 50 to 70 locations, but it’s building an easy way for customers to ask for a person instead.

Technomic, Inc. shared consumer data at the same conference. Only 23% of consumers find ordering from an AI drive-thru appealing, and 46% find it unappealing. McDonald’s ended its own drive-thru AI test with IBM in 2024.

Burger King hasn’t given up on AI. It has spent $400 million on technology over the past few years, mostly on unifying its data and systems. Its more recent AI work supports back of house staff, including an assistant called Patty that talks to team members through their headsets. Chakri Somisetti said every tech decision starts with the problem it’s meant to solve and the KPIs behind it. Scaling back on the drive-thru pilot looks like that thinking in action.

Full service restaurants face their own version of this on the phones. They’re being sold AI to answer calls and take bookings, and most of the sales pitch is about calls that go unanswered. That’s a real problem. But a guest calling about a birthday cake or a wheelchair space may not want to talk to a bot. If they can’t reach a person, they may hang up and book somewhere else.

Burger King could see the drive offs. A voice AI product should show you the same thing: how many callers hung up, and at what point in the call. If it can’t, that tells you everything you need to know about the product.

Before signing, I’d ask the vendor how a guest gets through to a person, and how long it takes them. I’d also ask what happens to the call if nobody’s free to pick up.