Yum says Taco Bell drive-thru AI has improved employee retention
Yum says its Taco Bell voice-ordering system has reduced turnover, but it has not released data showing how much the technology drove the result.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
2 min read
Taco Bell drive-thru AI retention has improved because the system makes restaurant work easier, Yum! Brands Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Erika Burkhardt said. The company has also reported lower turnover at restaurants using the technology, though it has not published figures or a methodology that would show whether the AI caused the change.
Burkhardt told Fortune at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, California, that the voice-ordering system removes pressure points from taking orders. She said it lets restaurant team members spend more time on food preparation and customer hospitality.
Her comments contrast Yum's reported workplace experience with the criticism of AI and data centers that she said she encounters outside the company. Burkhardt described the rollout as a learning process.
Has Taco Bell's drive-thru AI reduced employee turnover?
Yum has said turnover fell at Taco Bell locations where the voice AI was deployed, according to CX Dive's report on the company's second-quarter 2025 earnings call. Chris Turner, then Yum's chief financial and franchise officer, said the system takes customer orders and passes them to restaurant staff, making operations easier.
Turner said that during a test in which he wore a drive-thru headset for roughly 90 minutes to two hours, he heard only one customer interaction that required help from an employee inside the restaurant. He said the system made the job substantially easier.
Those are company-reported results rather than independently verified findings. Neither Yum's statements nor the available reports provide turnover percentages, staff counts, a measurement period, comparisons with restaurants that did not use voice AI, or an explanation of other changes that could have affected retention.
How widely has Taco Bell deployed voice AI?
Yum said in a July 2024 announcement that its voice AI was running in more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thrus across 13 states, with a target of expanding to hundreds of U.S. sites by the end of that year. The company said the tool was intended to reduce team members' task loads, improve order accuracy and cut customer waits.
By the second quarter of 2025, the rollout had reached 600 Taco Bell locations, CX Dive reported, citing Turner. Fortune later reported that Taco Bell had expanded Omilia Voice AI to nearly 900 drive-thrus in July.
The automation has not been friction-free. Fortune reported that one customer appeared to test an automated Taco Bell drive-thru by placing an order for 18,000 water cups. Burkhardt separately said Yum views the deployment as a process of learning and improvement.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.