Fast Food

AI drive-thru adoption in US fast food has progressed from pilots to broader deployment, backed by hard usage data and cost/upsell implications, but with mixed performance and ongoing vendor and regulatory considerations.

Dairy Queen is rolling out a Presto-powered AI chatbot to dozens of drive-thrus in the US and Canada to speed service and upsell.

McDonald’s began piloting AI drive-thru ordering in 2021 at 10 Chicago locations after acquiring Apprente, signaling broader adoption of chatbots in fast-food drive-thrus.