Picture this: you're craving a quick bite, and as you approach the ordering kiosk, it already knows your go-to meal, suggests a popular new side dish, and tells you your usual drink is half-price today. No queues, no repeating your order, no stress. That's not science fiction—it's the new dining standard, powered by artificial intelligence.
In 2025, the humble self-service ordering system will get a smart upgrade. With AI now driving these once-basic machines, restaurants and retailers aren't just automating transactions—they're delivering predictive, personal, and remarkably human-like experiences that are changing how we dine and shop.
Once seen as a novelty or a way to trim staff costs, self-service kiosks have rapidly become essential customer touchpoints. But today's systems aren't just about skipping the counter. They're learning from your preferences, adjusting in real time, and even anticipating what you might want before you know it. Thanks to AI, what used to be a simple touchscreen menu is now a savvy digital assistant, with innovations like voice ordering for restaurants transforming how brands connect with their customers through speed, accuracy, and an unexpectedly personal touch.
1. Personalised Recommendations
AI algorithms study the transactions and web pages people visit to make targeted recommendations. Personalisation helps customers and raises the chance of selling additional items to them.
2. Higher Order Accuracy
Dealing with customers' orders with AI minimises any mistakes that can happen before shipment. Advanced technology in language processing helps to understand customers' orders and ensure they include their chosen details.
3. Optimising the way queues are handled
Using AI, systems can forecast busy hours and shift their operations to distribute customers more evenly and cut down on waiting. As a result of dynamic management, placing orders is easier for customers, and their satisfaction increases.
4. Current and Quick Inventory Reports
Using AI in inventory management allows businesses to monitor stock continuously. When items are out of stock, customers learn about it instantly, and companies can better manage their stock.
Including AI in the system will enhance the experience and make it more convenient overall.
1) Wingstop's Smart Kitchen
Wingstop uses AI to precisely anticipate the level of demand in 15 minutes using information from as many as 100 different sources. Order delivery time has been reduced by 50% during and after the Super Bowl.
2) Taco Bell's new AI-assisted drive-thru service
With assistance from Nvidia, Taco Bell is using AI at its drive-through. The technology analyses the length of each line and advises faster serving by suggesting specific menu options, speeding up service. Plans are underway to expand AI voice ordering to around 500 restaurants in 2025.
If you believe AI-powered self service ordering has reached its limit with features like personalisation and speed, you should reconsider. Now, it's moving toward using technology with emotion, context, and even mood. Some major changes are just around the corner.
1. Emotion-Sensing Kiosks
That is a correct interpretation. Kiosks in the future will use technology to recognise emotions from expressions, voices, and even minute emotions in customers' faces. Do you ever feel that you are running out of time? An upsell might not come up when using the kiosk. Are you in a good mood and at ease? It might lead you to choose the delicious dessert that caught your eye.
2. Context-Aware Menus
If you came to a restaurant on a cold winter day, you might enjoy being presented with a menu of hot dishes, spicy meals, and warm beverages. Next, AI will look at weather information, the clock, and popular social activities to change the restaurant's menu as the day progresses.
3. Sustainability-Driven Choices
With more people caring about the environment, kiosks could soon recommend better dishes for the Earth based on your footprint. Therefore, after choosing only plant-based dishes in the past, the system could point out carbon-neutral options or note your impact over a period, making the experience more enjoyable.
4. Hyperlocal Personalisation
Rather than simply wishing you hello and handing you your usual, new kiosks might greet you with your name and let you know you are in a Melbourne branch. I recommend you try the chef's special dish—it's very good here. This mix of special data from each customer's location and AI-built memory helps form a greater connection between the business and its customers.
5. Invisible Loyalty
Loyalty cards and QR codes will no longer be used. It won't be long before AI spots the same customers using mobile web tracking, biometrics, and buying history, and rewards them appropriately without causing any disturbance. It's loyalty you experience without even realising it.
Integrating AI into self-service ordering systems marks a significant advancement in customer service technology. By providing personalised, efficient, and accurate ordering experiences, companies can meet the evolving expectations of today's consumers. As technology advances, embracing AI-powered self-service systems will be essential for businesses aiming to be competitive and customer-focused in the modern marketplace.
