Burger King is introducing an AI chatbot, named 'Patty', that will reside in the headsets used by employees. The voice-enabled chatbot is part of the BK Assistant, which will not only help employees prepare meals, but will also rate their interactions with customers in terms of 'politeness'.
Thibault Roux, Burger King’s chief digital strategist, told The Verge that the company gathered input from franchisees and customers on how to measure politeness and has trained the AI system to recognize specific words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing in politeness.
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"This is all intended to be a guidance tool," Roux says, adding that the company is "evolving" to capture the tone of conversations.
Burger King: More details about AI chatbot Patty
Patty, a chatbot powered by OpenAI ,serves as the voice of the BK Assistant platform, which combines data from conversations at the drive-thru, kitchen equipment, inventory and other areas of Burger King’s business. Employees can ask Patty questions, such as how many strips of bacon to put on a Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper or for instructions on how to clean the milkshake machine.
Because it's integrated with the new cloud point-of-sale system, the AI assistant will also notify managers if a machine is down for maintenance or when a product is out of stock.
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"Within 15 minutes, the entire ecosystem will pull it from stock — whether you walk into a restaurant to order from the kiosk, or you go to the drive-thru, the digital menu board will update," Roux says.
Burger King may be integrating a chatbot into employee headsets, but it doesn't appear the brand is ready to widely launch AI drive-thrus just yet — something chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Taco Bell.
"We're playing with it, we're testing it, but it's still a risky bet," Roux says. "Not every customer is ready for it." He adds that the company is currently testing the AI drive-thru technology in fewer than 100 restaurants.
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Burger King plans to launch the BK Assistant platform on web and app in all restaurants in the US by the end of 2026, while Patty is being piloted in 500 restaurants.
