Meet ‘Bo-Linda,’ Bojangles’ AI drive-thru order-taker
Chicken chain is testing voice bot at 10 locations; Improves speed of drive-thru, company says
The following article appeared in the November 22, 2023, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, a digital publication with original local news for Charlotte. Subscribe for free. More info here.
Charlotte-based Bojangles is testing a voice chatbot to take orders of chicken; ‘Would you like to Bo-size that?’ robotic voice asks
by Cristina Bolling
She’s been on the job for only a few months. She usually gets the drive-thru orders right.
She’s diligent and pleasant, and her bosses think she has a bright future. Oh, and her coworkers seem to like her.
“Bo-Linda” is the new AI voice bot that’s taking orders at drive-thrus at an expanding number of Bojangles locations. You can expect to see more of her around town soon, joining the likes of virtual personalities associated with other companies — such as Bank of America’s “Erica” and Wells Fargo’s “Fargo,” who are digital financial assistants.
Bo-Linda debuted at a Bojangles on South Tryon Street near Arrowood Road in southwest Charlotte, and she’s been working at a second Charlotte location, in the Waverly shopping center in south Charlotte, for about four months, Bojangles spokeswoman Stacey McCray said in an email to The Ledger.
There are 10 locations with Bo-Linda taking drive-thru orders, and another five are coming online soon, McCray said. There are about 800 Bojangles in the U.S.
“We are still evaluating the system, but so far, we see that Bo-Linda improves the speed of our drive-thru by allowing the employees to focus on speed, quality and accuracy,” McCray said. “The system ensures we ask all the questions needed for our guests to get exactly what they want, and she’s averaging above 96% success in handling orders.”
She said the voice chatbot is “very popular with our team members,” who came up with the name.
Watch and listen as The Ledger’s Cristina Bolling orders a “chicken supremes” meal from Bo-Linda, the AI working the drive-thru at the Bojangles in the Waverly shopping center in south Charlotte.
A trend cooking? A move to put AI at the drive-thru isn’t inevitable for all fast-food restaurant chains, but it’s “a promising avenue for many,” according to an article published last month in Quick Service Restaurant magazine, an industry publication for fast-food restaurant operators. (The industry term is “quick service,” not “fast-food” restaurants.)
The use of AI can benefit restaurants beyond just operational efficiency, according to the article; AI order-takers can suggest menu items based on supply levels of certain products and capture data from each transaction. And AI is improving at recognizing human speech even with ambient noise and various accents, the article stated.
Certain types of customers may prefer human interaction, “while younger, tech-savvier demographics might appreciate the convenience and novelty of an AI interaction,” the article said.
Putting Bo-Linda to the ‘supreme’ test: For the sake of thorough reporting, The Ledger recently took a spin through the Waverly Bojangles to try out Bo-Linda’s order-taking skills for ourselves.
We kept our order simple — one combo meal — but didn’t give specifics so we could see what prompts she’d give to guide us in making our selections.
We were greeted by a robotic-sounding woman’s voice saying, “It’s Bo-Time. Would you like to try our hand-breaded chicken sandwich combo today?”
(In industry terms, this is known as a “meal add-on script” — suggesting an item that the customer might not have planned on ordering but might decide to buy on a whim.)
We stuck to our initial plan and asked for “a chicken supremes meal” — an intentionally vague order that would require Bo-Linda to ask about the number of chicken tenders we wanted, our side dish, drink and sauces.
She passed the first test, asking us whether we wanted three, four or five supremes.
Then she asked if we would like “to Bo-size that” — a question that’s considered an “upsell” in restaurant terms. (We declined.)
She prompted us to pick a side order, a sauce and a drink, and paused for a moment after each of our responses.
We asked for “tea,” expecting her to ask if we wanted sweetened or unsweetened. She didn’t ask us to specify.
There was a lengthy wait between ordering and receiving our food (11 minutes on a weekday lunchtime), but it wasn’t clear whether the delay was AI-related or simply the slow work of humans. When we finally got our meal, handed to us by a human, the order was accurate.
And the tea was sweet.
We are in the South, after all. —Lindsey Banks contributed to this article.
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Charlotte Ledger. Reach her at cristina@cltledger.com.
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🍗Want to try it for yourself? These are the locations that currently have Bo-Linda taking orders, according to Bojangles:
7735 S. Tryon St., Charlotte
6308 Providence Farm Lane, Charlotte
1718 W. Main St., Locust, N.C.
9417 Steele Creek Road, Charlotte
8327 Collins Road, Indian Land, S.C.
3199 E. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia
11137 E. Independence Blvd., Matthews
1407 E. Third St., Charlotte
1278 E. Main St., Rock Hill, S.C.
300 West Blvd., Charlotte
➡️ Want to learn more about AI? Check out The Ledger’s “Future of AI” series that ran earlier this year, with articles on a range of topics examining how local businesses are using artificial intelligence.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman, BC Creative