SoundHound Expands Restaurant Voice AI Beyond Drive-Thru

Voice AI in restaurants has moved beyond experimental drive-thru pilots into operational systems handling millions of real transactions. SoundHound AI is positioning itself as a multi-channel automation layer that addresses the specific moments when restaurants lose revenue: unanswered phones during dinner rush, backed-up drive-thru lanes, and staff pulled away from food prep to handle routine questions.

At the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, SoundHound demonstrated how its platform now spans drive-thru automation, phone ordering, kiosks, employee assistance, and even in-car voice commerce. The company's OASYS agentic AI platform orchestrates conversational agents across these channels, connecting voice interactions to POS systems, kitchen workflows, and operational data.

Why it matters

Restaurants face a structural problem: peak ordering periods coincide with maximum staff workload. Voice AI that can capture phone orders, process drive-thru transactions, and answer guest questions without human intervention directly addresses labor constraints and lost revenue. SoundHound's expansion beyond single-channel automation into a connected platform shows how voice technology is becoming infrastructure rather than a novelty feature.

Proven scale with major chains

SoundHound's strongest validation comes from large-scale deployments. Casey's, the convenience retailer and pizza chain, renewed and expanded its partnership across more than 2,600 stores. SoundHound's AI agents have handled over 21 million guest interactions for Casey's and processed millions of food orders, focusing on peak-period pizza calls that would otherwise go to voicemail or create hold times.

Red Lobster rolled out SoundHound's phone ordering agent across all locations, designed to handle multiple simultaneous calls, answer common questions, and route orders directly into the POS. The casual dining deployment shows voice AI extending beyond quick-service into full-service restaurant models where takeout and catering drive significant revenue.

Platform breadth as differentiation

SoundHound's product suite addresses multiple operational pain points. Dynamic Drive-Thru combines voice, visual confirmation, and touch interaction to handle complex orders in noisy environments. Smart Ordering automates phone, SMS, and in-app voice channels through a single integration. Smart Answering handles non-ordering calls about hours, allergens, and policies. Employee Assist provides real-time information and guidance through headsets or tablets.

The OASYS platform, launched in May 2026, adds an agentic layer that allows AI to complete tasks and workflows, not just respond to queries. At the Show, SoundHound demonstrated agents handling IT ticket creation and guest service resolution—moving the technology closer to operational support beyond order capture.

Intelligence from conversation

SoundHound's Voice Insights tool turns drive-thru and phone conversations into operational data, revealing recurring guest questions, service friction points, and upsell opportunities. This analytics layer addresses a visibility gap: restaurants rarely have structured data on what happens in thousands of daily voice interactions.

The company now powers more than 15,000 locations with voice and conversational AI, including White Castle and other major brands. That scale matters in a crowded competitive landscape that includes Presto, ConverseNow, Kea, Hi Auto, PolyAI, and others.

Voice AI sits directly in the guest experience, making accuracy and graceful failure modes critical. SoundHound's multi-channel approach and integration depth position it as platform infrastructure rather than a point solution, but execution quality will determine whether operators see these systems as service enhancers or guest frustrations.

Details of SoundHound's restaurant platform and National Restaurant Association Show demonstrations were first reported by Restaurant Technology News.