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Burger King has introduced a new AI chatbot into its daily fast food operations. “Patty,” the AI voice powered by an OpenAI base model, will live in employees’ headsets with the goal of collecting “usability” data and simplifying workflow.
The bot is part of a new web and app platform, BK Assistant, designed to provide training and operational support. It’s supposed to do everything from alerting managers to items that are no longer available to helping workers remember the ingredients of limited-time deals. It will also analyze the conversation between an employee and a customer at the drive-thru window.
Burger King told NBC News on Thursday that BK Assistant would not listen to every employee conversation and that the system’s goal was not to “grade” people or encourage workers to stick to scripts. The assistant, however, will start listening from the moment a customer stops to place their order, until the moment their car leaves.
The system will collect data points on employees’ interactions with customers, such as using keywords such as “welcome,” “please” and “thank you,” which the company said it explored as a signal to help managers understand service patterns.
“One of the ways we started this was, you know, picking certain keywords… but it was a mechanism that was used to iterate on how to define usability,” Thibault Roux, Burger King’s chief digital officer, said in an interview with NBC News.
“It’s really a coaching tool, right? To help you as an employee, to become more hospitable, and we’re going to help you also with some of the malfunctions that may arise that can be a little bit complex,” he added.
The voice-activated headset is currently being tested in 500 restaurants. The web and app versions of BK Assistant are expected to be available in Burger King restaurants in the United States by the end of 2026.
