(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
Franchise operators across the country face a myriad of challenges including finding and retaining good staff and squeezing profits in an era of significantly increased food, material and operational costs. The good news is that there are a number of AI-leveraged technologies that are helping owners navigate these challenges, maintain margins and grow. Some are in-house, propriety applications developed by larger companies. But that’s fine, because this wave of innovation will ultimately trickle down to even the smallest franchise operators.
If your business is part of the franchise model, here are a few technologies worth investigating.
Vision Monitoring: Do’Cast AI
Used by the Bluemont Group, a Knoxville Tennessee franchisee of 99 Dunkin’ Donuts locations, this is a vision monitoring system that uses in-store cameras to track inventory in real time and forecast demand for each type of donut. Those predictions factor in recent sales, weather, seasonal patterns, holidays, days of the week, and major local events such as college football games. The system captures images of the donut display case several times a day so it can understand how store inventory shifts during the day — and also records a definitive count of waste at the end of the day, as excess items are tossed in the trash. So far, the company says, Do’Cast has reduced waste by up to 25%, lowering costs while ensuring their top-selling treats stay available. (Source: Fast Company)
Employee Assistance: Hey ARMA AI Assistant
Made by Ace Hardware and operated through a hand-held device, this AI-powered assistant is designed to support its in-store associates with real-time information and guidance in stores nationwide with quick access to product knowledge, project advice, and recommendations, so they can focus on solving customer problems and delivering even better in-store service. Already, the application is being used at more than 2600 locations. “After 78 years in the hardware business, Hey ARMA is one of the most impactful changes we’ve ever made to elevate the customer service experience,” said Bill Wygal, owner of Bill’s Ace Hardware, a two-store chain in California. “With the push of a button, our associates can quickly locate products, understand what they do, and confidently recommend the right solutions for our customers.” (Source: Retailcustomerexperience.com)
Customer Assistance: AI Shoppe Advisor
Created by The Vitamin Shoppe in partnership with Microsoft, Shoppe Advisor is similar to Hey Arma, but developed for customers. The app claims to be an interactive discovery tool designed to enhance in-store education, engagement, and personalization. Via a digital touchscreen, the assistant provides instant access to detailed product information and expert-sourced wellness content, including articles and videos searchable by health goals, trends, and brands and is currently helping between 50–100 customers per day per location according to the company. “Online we had all of this great content, blog articles, and expert articles we weren’t able to service effectively in the store,” said Uman Chan, Vitamin Shoppe’s principal director of customer experience. “Shoppe Advisor was really designed to bridge that gap.” (Source: Vitamin Shoppe)
Voice Assistant: Presto Voice
This is an AI voice assistant that’s being rolled out by Dairy Queen (DQ) and is designed to optimize drive-thru experiences by speeding up the ordering process for customers and freeing up staff for other tasks. According to Presto, the bots take accurate orders 90% of the time. The chatbots always read back the orders to customers as opposed to humans who sometimes skip that step. During initial testing the system improved customer satisfaction by double digits and the benefits are significant. “With Presto’s AI, we can enable our staff to focus on high-value tasks that ultimately benefit our fans, with a friendly experience, and high order accuracy.” DQ’s executive vice president of technology, Kevin Baartman said. (Source: Presto)
Drone Delivery: Sky2 Drone
Created through a partnership between Flytrex and Little Caesars, this is an AI-powered delivery drone that can carry up to eight pounds of cargo. After an order is placed, users open the Flytrex app and confirm their address that needs to fall within the four-mile radius of Wylie, Texas — where the drone technology is currently being deployed. The app routes the order directly into Little Ceasars POS system — the first point-of-sale integration of its kind for drone delivery. Because of the relatively small delivery radius, the company says that orders are delivered in under 5 minutes. “Flytrex is laser-focused on making on-demand food delivery by drone a reality for everyday families,” said Amit Regev, CEO and co-founder of Flytrex. (Source: Forbes)
Operations: Zignyl
Made by Miso Robotics, Zignyl’s technology is used to combine frontline workforce management with kitchen automation into a connected ecosystem, allowing restaurant operators to track performance, labor, and robotic ROI in real-time. Franchisors from Auntie Anne’s to Planet Smoothie and Cinnabon are using it to control labor costs and manage operations. The AI app deals with questions like scheduling, required hours and projected sales to “take the guesswork out of daily management.” (Source: Miso Robotics)
Operations: Zenput
Used by KFC, Zenput is an operation execution platform that automates daily restaurant procedures, food safety checks, and scheduling. It organizes employee task management lists and automatically generates alerts for follow-up tasks that aren’t completed properly and then offers data and analytics to show areas of improvement. According to KFC, after implementing Zenput they were able to improve the execution of critical work across the organization and resolve issues faster. “It’s changed our cooks’ behavior around our chicken on the bone,” Ricky Brown, KFC’s Operations Manager said. “We’ve seen the product improve drastically on a more consistent basis.” (Source: Zenput)
Recruiting: Paradox.ai
According to the company, which was recently acquired by HR platform Workday, Paradoxuses conversational AI to provide simple, frictionless hiring experiences built and improve the overall recruiting process. The platform also adds intelligent automation, including two-way texting, candidate screening, and interview scheduling to help save time and money. 7–11 says that the application has decreased hiring time for new recruits from 10 days to 3 and that “40,000 hours have been saved per week for store managers.” Previously, the company’s store managers had to open a requisition, get it approved, post it themselves, review hundreds of applicants, pick which candidates to talk to, call them, and schedule them for interviews. That process has been streamlined thanks to this AI application. (Source: Convenience.org)
Wellness: DASH
Even dogs can have their day. Dogtopia, which says it is one of the fastest growing franchises in North America, has — in collaboration with technology company PitPat — rolled out its AI based dog GPS tracker/activity monitor called DASH. It fits onto a collar or harness with a protective cover and is specially crafted for multi-dog environments. According to the company it features “daycare-approved durability, a year-long battery life, and easy data syncing to DASH’s mobile app” for “effortless monitoring of a dog’s daily activity that’s designed to enhance the health and wellness of dogs.” Applications including the tracking of steps and frequency of breaks. (Source PR Newswire)
Mobile Ordering: Lou AI
Developed in-house by Papa Johns and available in the company’s app, Lou AI is an AI-powered pizza assistant deployed through Google Cloud’s Food Ordering agent and specialized for group orders. The application enables the operator to reduce time spent trying to reconcile all of the preferences among customers in a group and helps customers determine “just the right volume and mix of items” so that it can guide customers into making “smarter, stress-free decisions.” (Source: Papa Johns)
