Drive-Thru AI Is Scaling. Is Your Restaurant Network Ready?

Network rack with color-coded Ethernet patch cables terminated in patch panels

Voice ordering in the drive-thru is moving past the pilot stage. On its earnings call last week, McDonald's said it expects Archy, its smart ordering system, to be deployed at most of its U.S. restaurants by the end of 2027. At its September investor day, executives said Archy takes orders in English and Spanish with accuracy above 90%, and that it's expected to free up at least 50 labor hours per restaurant each week.

McDonald's isn't alone. Yum Brands says more than 900 Taco Bell restaurants now use voice AI in the drive-thru, and it expects more than 1,500 by the end of this year. The company credits it with a 6% improvement in overall drive-thru satisfaction. In October, Bojangles announced it's expanding its AI order taker, Bo-Linda, from nearly 500 locations to its full system of about 890 restaurants. The companies say it already processes more than a million orders a week.

Franchisees are asking fair questions

Not everyone is sold. In an October analyst report cited by Restaurant Dive, McDonald's operators said little had been shared about specific productivity gains and called the target "highly theoretical." They raised concerns about technology fees and other added costs, and some questioned whether guests actually want to order from AI. Franchisees seemed most interested in less flashy tools, such as automated inventory tracking, that could save manager hours and cut food waste.

Guests are mixed too. Nation's Restaurant News reported that Burger King slowed its voice-ordering test after finding some customers didn't like it, and Taco Bell slowed its rollout last year after an ordering glitch went viral. Technomic data cited in the same report found only 23% of consumers find ordering from an AI drive-thru bot appealing.

That caution makes sense. A franchisee pays for the rollout location by location, so the technology has to work at each restaurant, every day, not just in a corporate test.

Reliability starts with the connection

One detail from the Bojangles announcement stands out. Part of the expanded deal is a new real-time connection between voice ordering and the restaurant's point of sale. The companies said that upgrade improves reliability, which they described as a challenge AI voice ordering has run into.

Every one of these systems depends on the same basics. Audio has to move cleanly from the order point to the cloud and back. Orders have to land in the POS and on kitchen display screens without lag. And all of it runs on in-store networks that also carry payments, guest Wi-Fi, digital menu boards and back-office systems. If a restaurant has an aging switch, weak wireless at the window or messy cabling, the system can look broken even when the software is fine.

What multi-unit operators should check before a rollout

You don't need to be McDonald's for this to apply. Any brand adding voice ordering, kitchen displays or connected equipment across several locations should look at a few things first:

Network capacity at each site. Make sure every location's internet connection and internal network can carry real-time voice and order traffic alongside payments and guest Wi-Fi.
Separated traffic. Keep POS and payment systems on their own network segment, apart from guest Wi-Fi and other devices.
Cabling and hardware at the order point. Drive-thru speakers, headsets and outdoor equipment take a beating. Clean, documented cabling makes troubleshooting faster.
A repeatable standard. A consistent network and equipment design for every location makes openings, remodels and rollouts more predictable.
One point of contact. When the ordering vendor, POS provider and internet carrier point at each other, it helps to have a technology partner who can trace the issue end to end.

The bottom line

Drive-thru AI is becoming part of the quick-service playbook, with kitchen displays and connected equipment coming along with it. Whether it pays off for franchisees will depend less on the AI itself and more on the network, cabling and integrations underneath it at every location.

How Vexitey helps

Vexitey helps multi-location and franchise brands plan and build the structured cabling, network and Audio & Video infrastructure that in-store technology depends on, from new location buildouts to rollouts across existing sites. Contact us or call (815) 749-0600 to get your locations ready.

Sources

Multi-Location Technology restaurants drive-thru franchise technology multi-location point of sale networking structured cabling

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McDonald's Wants AI Taking Drive-Thru Orders at Most U.S. Locations by 2027. The Hard Part Is the Network Behind It.