Bob Wertz

A brief “review” of Bo-Linda: Bojangles AI-based drive-thru ordering system

Bojangles is a fast food restaurant chain in the Southeastern United States that serves chicken and biscuits. Last year, I drove up to a Bojangles drive-thru in downtown Columbia, South Carolina and was greeted by a computerized voice. There were no signs indicating that they were using a new system, but it was clear that the voice wasn’t a human. I placed my order, the system asked for the drink on my combo, confirmed my order, told me my total and asked me to move forward. Quick and efficient.

A few months later, the Bojangles in Chapin near my daughter’s school switched to the same computerized system. I’d stop there occasionally to grab breakfast after dropping her off. This time, the system informed me that there was a 5-minute wait on my steak biscuit and asked if I wanted to switch to something else. I did not want to wait, so I changed my order. The system handled it, gave me a total, and I was intrigued.

A quick search revealed that this new system had a name: Bo-Linda. Bojangles website describes Bo-Linda as “a dynamic conversational drive-thru AI platform to augment human interaction with digital restaurant systems.” I also discovered that many people hadn’t had positive experiences with the new system when it debuted in Charlotte. I started to pay attention to the system any time I ordered and figured I’d share some observations about the system, and the potential societal impact of AI.

1. With normal orders, it works fine. I haven’t had any issues with it misunderstanding me, or having a severe lag time. It seems to be about as accurate as a person. The order is shown on the display so you can easily confirm that your order is correct.
2. My daughter’s order confused it. I was ordering something just for my high schooler who doesn’t eat much meat: two plain biscuits and a large seasoned fry. Bo-Linda heard two sausage biscuits and a large sweet tea. When I tried to correct it, the system just failed, gave me an incorrect total, and told me to pull to the window. I had to tell the employees what I actually ordered.
3. Loads of promotions. The order process starts with a promotion. “Would you like to try our new Bo-Berry biscuit?” This is no different than ordering with a human following a script, but sometimes, Bo-Linda would add several upgrade suggestions at the end. “Would you like to Bo-Size your order? Would you like to upgrade to our new flavored iced tea?” At one point in Chapin, I counted five upgrade or add-on suggestions. I just had to keep telling it no. It doesn’t happen at every location, but frequently enough to be annoying. I wonder if the number of suggestions can be controlled by a manager or franchisee? Or does the AI decide based on volume or sales metrics? No idea.
4. Humans are listening and can interrupt it. Once I had a person interrupt the order because I ordered something they were out of. Another time, the system just stopped working and a person took over. So humans are monitoring as a backup and stepping in when needed.
5. They named it, but that name is never used. Someone on their marketing team came up with Bo-Linda and they trademarked it, but they don’t have signs telling you to use their new Bo-Linda AI Ordering System. Bo-Linda doesn’t “introduce” herself when she takes your order. It just appeared one day. I think it’s highly likely that they didn’t want to deal with AI backlash and just tried to quietly make the switch. And honestly, I think that was probably the right call.

So, Bo-Linda works. It’s mostly fine. From the Bojangles perspective, I understand why they’d want to switch to an AI-based ordering system. Bojangles claims that the system improves accuracy, noting that Bo-Linda can take orders 96% of the time with no human interaction.¹ They still need a person processing payments and giving patrons their food, but that employee can more easily handle other tasks like filling drinks if they aren’t also taking orders. I’m not sure how employees would feel about it. Are they hiring fewer staff because they’ve automated one of the jobs? Are some employees getting scheduled for fewer hours? Or are they happy that one annoying task simply has been automated? Taking orders at a fast food drive-thru can’t be an enjoyable experience.

From a broader perspective though, this is what people fear when they say that artificial intelligence will take away jobs. Bojangles isn’t the first to experiment with removing humans from the order experience and it won’t be the last.² Companies of all sorts will look for jobs and positions that can be eliminated or replaced by an AI-driven system. And as they find those efficiencies, they will need fewer employees. I’m a little bit of a skeptic when it comes to AI completely replacing knowledge jobs, but I do think new AI-powered tools will help us get more done in less time. If employees are more efficient, companies will eventually need less people to get the same amount of work done.

With more efficient workers and potentially fewer jobs, the impacts to our society could be significant, especially for young adults. We need to start having serious conversations about universal basic income as a method of keeping our society stable. If employees can do more in less time, then maybe we need to start considering shorter work weeks. There will inevitably be tension between the traditionalists who want to keep a 40-hour work week and maximize efficiency, and the workers who will be asked to do more for the same amount of money. Right now, it’s hard to call AI ordering at a fast food restaurant revolutionary, but I do believe a technical revolution is coming. And as with all technical revolutions, cultural change will inevitably follow.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.

The other day, I referenced the hype leading up to the launch of a device in the early 2000s that was supposed to revolutionize personal transportation, but realized no one remembered the cautionary tail. Project Ginger was the creation of legendary inventor Dean Kamen. Word had leaked out about the secret project. Tech luminaries raved about it. Venture capitalists drooled at the potential. A 2001 article from Time was actually titled “Reinventing the Wheel” and captures the hype of the moment:

In a heartbeat, hundreds of stories full of fevered theorizing gushed forth in the press. Ginger was a hydrogen-powered hovercraft. Or a magnetic antigravity device. Or, closer to the mark, a souped-up scooter. Even the reprobates at South Park got into the act, spoofing Ginger in a recent episode–the details of which, sadly, are unprintable in a family magazine.

This revolutionary device was the Segway. Spoiler alert: it did not revolutionize transportation.

The Time article clearly explains all of the issues that plagued the Segway: cost, safety, sidewalks. Then conveniently ignores those issues to embrace the hype. In 2001, Segway promised a plant would produce 40,000 Segways a month, but in reality, the company only sold 140,000 in the product’s entire lifespan. Most of those weren’t sold to consumers.

Why do I bring this up? Because Jony Ive and Sam Altman are promising an AI device that will revolutionize how we use computers. Lots of people trust Ive and his track record with Apple. And Sam Altman has steered Open AI and ChatGPT to be the current leader of the AI industry. OpenAI is pushing the hype themselves, buying ad space to sell people… something?¹ People are rushing to fill in the unspoken details with their hopes for a new device. Journalists are writing about all the things that this partnership could bring. And yet, there is nothing tangible.

I’m not buying the hype yet. Maybe this new device will be a true revolution and someday replace all of our computers. But based on rumors and Ive’s track record, it could just as easily be an expensive AI-powered necklace with lots of sensors that’s made of some special gold alloy and is voice controlled. The fact is that we don’t know any details, and I’m not even sure Ive and Altman know all the details. I believe they will release something, and when they do, we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, beware hype without details.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.