KFC opened a next-generation store format called 'Open House' in McKinney, Texas, on September 27. The 3,400-square-foot restaurant features self-order kiosks, digital menu boards, a dual-lane drive-thru with a dedicated mobile pickup lane, and table service. Operating hours run from 6:00 a.m. to midnight to test breakfast, late-night items, and specialty beverages. Parent KFC Corporation operates more than 30,000 locations globally.
Hospitality Technology's QSR section rounds up restaurant technology developments: Presto raised $10 million to accelerate voice AI; global QSR kiosk deployments head toward 750,000; Presto Voice AI integrates with Toast POS; Omilia's founder discussed scaling voice AI from single-store pilots to 890+ drive-thrus; and Pilot is updating digital ordering and adding kiosks across 900 North American travel centers.
McDonald's unveiled its "McDonald's > NEXT" strategy at Investor Day, committing $8.5 billion in total partnering support through 2036, with $5 billion injected into the franchise system by 2030, equivalent to roughly $100,000 in annual cash flow benefits for the average U.S. location. The plan includes retraining over 2 million employees and scaling ArchIQ, a generative AI platform built with Google's help, to power drive-thru voice AI and chatbot assistance for frontline staff. McDonald's expects ArchIQ to unlock about 250 basis points of restaurant-level efficiency gains. The move follows McDonald's mid-2024 termination of its three-year drive-thru voice AI trial with IBM, citing order e…
Starbucks plans to open a technology hub in Chennai, India, in fiscal year 2027, bringing more work currently performed by third-party service providers in-house. The company is already using AI to build software for inventory tracking and maintenance management, and spends about $400 million annually on software. Meanwhile, as part of its Back to Starbucks plan, it will close 250 North American locations, about 1% of its more than 18,000 North American coffeehouses, and has completed remodels at more than 1,000 stores.
Scooter's Coffee has migrated its digital ordering ecosystem onto Olo, the restaurant digital commerce platform. Olo Ordering now powers the backend of the Scooter's Coffee mobile app, while Olo Rails enables the chain's first third-party delivery marketplace channel. The rollout was completed in under 90 days across 900+ locations, covering POS routing configuration, a customizable menu with modifier management, and a seamless transition for existing mobile app users without operational downtime. The brand operates around 900 locations across 32 U.S. states.
Canopy's 2026 Restaurant Tech Report, based on a national survey of 1,007 U.S. adults, finds 94% of consumers now factor technology into where they dine, up sharply from 80% in 2025. More than a third (37%) abandoned an order entirely due to malfunctioning technology, and 29% changed their ordering method, switched to a competitor, or walked out when confronted with an unexpected digital tip prompt. McDonald's was named the top QSR tech experience provider for a second consecutive year (34%), with Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell rounding out the top three. Only 20% of kiosk users said self-service kiosks work seamlessly every time, unchanged from 2025; consumer exposure to AI drive-thru voice ord…
Hospitality Technology reports that global QSR self-ordering kiosk deployments are forecast to top 750,000 by 2030, up from 450,000 today, with the Americas holding the largest share and the U.S. hosting nearly one-third of all units worldwide. Brands including Portillo's, Qdoba, Bobby's Burgers, WOWorks and Mokas Coffee & Eatery shared practices showing the primary ROI is not labor reduction but higher ticket averages and peak-hour throughput. About 35% of Portillo's dine-in orders come through kiosks, and the chain has made three to five 24-inch kiosks standard in new builds; a Starbucks UK pilot showed 12% higher average transaction value than traditional POS. Operators also stress place…
WOWorks, parent of Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, The Simple Greek, Barberitos and Zoup! Eatery, has opened 27 restaurants this year with 12 more in development, bringing its footprint to nearly 240 nationwide and a pace of nearly 38 new locations by year-end. Co-branding accounts for nearly half of year-to-date openings, but the clash between pay-first and pay-last workflows created a register bottleneck. The company responded by deploying self-ordering kiosks, with more than 10 locations now kiosk-only and a legacy register kept solely for cash. CEO Kelly Roddy said kiosks let guests enter a full multi-brand order at once and route it to different stations, while…
Presto Phoenix Inc. announced that its Presto Voice AI has joined the Toast Partner Ecosystem and integrated with Toast POS. Operators using both solutions can connect Presto Voice directly into their Toast POS, allowing orders captured through AI-powered voice automation to flow directly into the kitchen. According to the announcement, this can help reduce order errors, enhance upsell consistency, and free staff to focus on hospitality and throughput. The integration enables QSR franchise groups using Toast to adopt Presto Voice AI, automating drive-thru order-taking while improving speed, accuracy, and operational efficiency. The Toast Partner Ecosystem includes more than 200 integration…
Atlanta independent restaurant Ruby Chow's selected SpotOn as its restaurant technology partner, adopting SpotOn's POS platform, reporting and capital financing. Leadership cited faster customer support, more detailed reporting and lower financing costs as reasons for the switch. Ruby Chow's moved from Toast to SpotOn; General Manager and Partner Brian Seo said SpotOn provides a dedicated account manager with faster support, deeper reporting tools, and automated tip calculations that save about 90 minutes each night. The restaurant also used a SpotOn Capital loan to consolidate existing debt into a single payment, with repayment adjusting to sales. According to the National Restaurant Assoc…
Pilot Company is installing 156 self-order kiosks across 78 Wendy's locations in its North American travel centers as part of broader digital initiatives. Pilot is a franchisee of several quick-service brands including Arby's and Subway. Gemma Patterson, senior director of restaurant relations and e-commerce at Pilot, said bringing digital platforms into travel centers aims to enhance convenience, improve speed of service and create a more consistent guest experience. HT's 2026 Restaurant Technology Study found the share of operators with "no plans to add kiosks" rose from 52.8% to 68%, though this may reflect a natural shift in the adoption cycle. HT's forthcoming 2026 Guest Engagement Stu…
At RTN's Town Hall, industry leaders including former El Pollo Loco CIO Clark Matthews urged the restaurant industry to shift from passive post-mortem reporting to real-time predictive AI that solves operational problems before they occur. They emphasized that technology should provide actionable insights rather than just historical data dashboards.
Steve Demchuk, Chief Product Officer at Restaurant365, writes that AI adoption in the restaurant industry has shifted from exploration to tangible results. Research shows that among operators using back-office AI, 69% are using or piloting it for reporting and analytics; 61% say AI has reduced food costs, 62% say it has reduced labor costs; 88% of AI users say it saves time weekly. However, 38% of operators have no plans to use AI, with top barriers being data privacy/security concerns (37%) and accuracy concerns (34%).
Zaxbys CTO Mike Nettles has completely overhauled the brand's tech stack since 2021, with the brand now surpassing 1,000 locations and over 70% of transactions occurring at the drive-thru. Partnering with Hi Auto, they piloted voice AI across 25 stores, fine-tuning for nine months before rollout. The AI improved dynamic upselling but created kitchen operational challenges, leading to integration with PAR Brink POS and QSR Automations kitchen display systems to streamline order flow.
Zaxbys CTO Mike Nettles has been overhauling the tech stack since 2021, replacing all legacy systems in five years. The company has over 1,000 locations, with 70% of transactions at the drive-thru. Partnering with Hi Auto, they deployed voice AI, piloted at 25 stores, integrated with POS and kitchen display systems to improve operations.
Square and OpenTable have deepened their strategic partnership, bringing reservations, payments, and guest data into a unified view. Restaurant operators can now link reservations to revenue and make informed decisions on loyalty, marketing, and guest engagement, all within Square's software and hardware, including Square Handheld. Building on their point-of-sale partnership that began in 2022, this enhanced integration addresses the pain point of disconnected systems, reducing manual work for operators.
JINYA Ramen Bar plans to expand to over 200 locations, currently having 80 (soon 85). The company deployed handheld tableside payment devices, reducing the payment process from 20 steps to 4, improving table turnover. It is also piloting an AI auto-attendant to handle incoming calls, reducing front-of-house pressure. The VP of IT emphasized the importance of data integration and clean data, and plans to implement natural-language ordering via AI.
JINYA Ramen Bar, an 80-unit chain, is preparing its technology for expansion to over 200 locations. The company deployed handheld tableside payment devices, reducing the payment process from 20 steps to 4, improving table turnover. It is also piloting an AI auto-attendant to handle incoming calls, reducing front-of-house pressure. The VP of IT emphasized the importance of data integration and clean data, and plans to implement natural-language ordering via AI.
Square and Toast expanded their integrations with Google, bringing US restaurant operators into Ask Maps, Google Maps' conversational AI interface. Built on the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), diners can discover, customize, and complete orders via natural language prompts while operators maintain control over menus, pricing, and first-party guest relationships. Orders flow directly into operators' workflows, bypassing third-party commissions.
Toast has been named an endorsed POS technology provider by BWH Hotels for its properties across the US and Canada, covering 18 global brands and ~4,300 properties. The partnership provides access to Toast Go handhelds, Mobile Order & Pay, Toast Kiosks, and more, unifying multi-outlet operations and integrating into existing hotel tech stacks and PMS.