Yum Brands news and trends

Voice AI Orders Go Mainstream With QSRs Leading the Way
Voice Activation // November 08, 2024

That robot voice taking your Taco Bell order isn’t just an experiment — it’s handled 2 million customer orders, showing how artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversation has become serious business. The milestone by Yum! Brands, the parent owner of the Mexican-style franchise, points to a dramatic...

Yum! Brands Says It Took 2 Million Voice AI Orders in Q3
Restaurant innovation // November 05, 2024

In its Q3 earnings call on Tuesday (Nov. 5), Yum! Brands pointed to the more than 2 million orders through voice AI at its Taco Bell restaurants as an example of how its brands use tech to reach consumers. Yum! Brands is the parent company...

Taco Bell Goes All-in on AI Drive-Thrus as McDonald’s Steps Back
artificial intelligence // August 07, 2024

By year’s end, hundreds of Taco Bell drive-thrus could be taking orders without a human on the other end of the speaker. Yum Brands’ ambitious deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) at its flagship Mexican-style fast food chain signals a potential sea change in how America...

Yum Brands’ Acquisitions Build a Digital Foundation for AI Advancements
Earnings // August 06, 2024

As Yum Brands aims to be a “leading global digital restaurant company,” per CEO David Gibbs, the quick-service restaurant (QSR) giant is tapping its tech acquisitions to create a unified eCommerce ecosystem on which to layer artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to drive sales and productivity....

Interviews & Exclusives
Voice AI Orders Go Mainstream With QSRs Leading the Way

November 08, 2024
That robot voice taking your Taco Bell order isn’t just an experiment — it’s handled 2 million customer orders, showing how artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversation has become serious business. The milestone by Yum! Brands, the parent owner of the Mexican-style franchise, points to a dramatic shift in how consumers interact with businesses as major chains […]

Restaurants Go All-In on Smart Digital, but Consumers Remain Wary

November 24, 2023
Restaurants are increasingly adopting automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and robots across all areas of operation, but these efforts are not always a surefire hit. A Chick-fil-A in Valrico, Florida, for...

Bridge Millennials Have Become Restaurants’ Digital Diners

July 18, 2023
As consumers across the board slowly increase their engagement with restaurants’ eCommerce options, bridge millennials — those between their mid-thirties and mid-forties — are leading the pack by a long...

Quick Reads
Yum Brands: AI-Powered Marketing Campaigns Boost Customer Engagement

November 15, 2024
In early, limited pilots of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered marketing campaigns, quick-service restaurant (QSR) company Yum Brands reportedly is seeing double-digit increases in customer engagement compared to traditional digital marketing campaigns. “I think it’s just the early start of what it could do,” Joe Park, chief digital and technology officer at Yum Brands,told The Wall Street […]

Taco Bell Adding AI Voice Ordering to Hundreds of Drive-Thrus

July 31, 2024
Taco Bell will add AI voice technology to hundreds of its drive-thrus by year’s end. It’s part of parent Yum! Brands’ plans to integrate voice artificial intelligence (AI) to its...

Are Consumers ‘Done With Fast Food’ as Prices Climb?

May 05, 2024
Denis Montenaro, a regular McDonald’s diner, recently came to a decision. “I’m done with fast food,” the 75-year-old California resident told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in a report published Sunday (May 5)....

Yum Brands Doubles Tech Spending, Expands Use of Generative AI

April 01, 2024
Fast food company Yum Brands aims to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) across the operations of its restaurants. The parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit Burger...