Amazon Partners with Panera for Palm Recognition Payments

Blue Tokai, one of India's leading well thought of coffee brand, has announced the appointment of Nikki, an AI-powered chatbot from Umwelt.AI, as its Chief Listening Officer (CLO) to elevate employee engagement and workplace culture through real-time analytics and proactive insights.

With a rapidly expanding team across multiple locations, Blue Tokai recognized the need for a scalable solution to maintain employee engagement and address concerns in real time. The partnership with Umwelt.AI will help the company foster a workplace where employees feel heard, valued, and empowered, enabling HR teams to make data-driven decisions that enhance employee satisfaction and retention.

Umwelt.AI’s intelligent platform will provide Blue Tokai with deeper workforce insights, enabling timely actions based on employee feedback. By streamlining HR processes, measuring engagement more effectively, and personalizing employee interactions, the collaboration aligns with Blue Tokai’s commitment to building a high-performance, people-first work environment.

“Our vision has always been to create a workplace that fosters growth, inclusivity, and well-being. Partnering with Umwelt.AI gives us the opportunity to take a much more proactive and tech-driven approach to employee experience, ensuring our teams really feel valued and empowered. This will reflect our commitment to innovation not only in coffee but also in our workplace culture,” said Sujit Bose, Chief Human Resources Officer at Blue Tokai.

“At Umwelt.AI, we believe that AI-driven insights play a crucial role in building a positive and thriving workplace culture. With Nikki, our AI chatbot, Blue Tokai can leverage real-time sentiment analysis to gain deeper insights into employee experiences, proactively address concerns, and create a supportive work environment where engagement improves, attrition decreases, and business performance strengthens. By integrating AI-powered solutions, organizations can make more informed decisions that enhance employee well-being and drive long-term success,” shared Vishal Chopra, Founder and CEO of Umwelt.AI.

Through this collaboration, Blue Tokai aims to drive key outcomes such as higher employee satisfaction, improved retention rates, reduced attrition, and more data-driven HR decisions. The AI-powered analytics from Umwelt.AI will help cultivate a culture of transparency, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.

India's best-rated and multi award-winning specialty coffee brand, abCoffee, celebrates the release of their revolutionary mobile app with the release of a hot rap song.

The brand, which is well-known for producing speciality coffee that is 100% suited to Indian tastes, is still shaking up the Indian coffee market with a modern beat and flawless digital interface.

The app offers limitless customization choices, tempting prices, and your daily drink in just three taps.

The brand blasts a captivating rap melody that epitomizes its inventive attitude to kick off the app launch. The song encapsulates the spirit of abCoffee and has already gone viral on social media.

Expressing his views, Abhijeet Anand, Founder & CEO, abCoffee said, "Our app launch needed to mirror abCoffee's core: excitement, flavour, and community. This new platform empowers our customers with convenience and choice, while the rap track delivers our message in a language that resonates with modern coffee aficionados."

Yum! Brands has announced the expansion of Voice AI technology across Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the U.S., targeting hundreds of stores by the end of 2024. 

The Company aspires to implement Voice AI technology in drive-thrus at its brands globally in the future.

“Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy,” said Lawrence Kim, Chief Innovation Officer, Yum! Brands by adding that they are expanding and accelerating their AI capabilities like Voice AI to deliver leading-edge technologies to their franchisees and to enhance the consumer and team member experience. 

“With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we’re confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction,” he added.

The rollout of Voice AI technology in Taco Bell, currently in more than 100 Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus across 13 states, is designed to enhance back-of-house operations for team members and elevate the order experience for consumers. Benefits include easing task load for team members, improving order accuracy, providing a consistent, friendly experience, and reducing wait times, while driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees. 

Yum! Brands and Taco Bell have collaborated closely, including incorporating input from Taco Bell franchisees, so that Voice AI benefits both team members and consumers. 

This technology takes advantage of Taco Bell’s strong drive-thru customer experience ecosystem, which is powered by digital menu boards, Yum! Brands’ propriety Poseidon POS system and the next generation of the Taco Bell Rewards loyalty program which the brand is excited to integrate later this year. 

The Voice AI technology uses a holistic approach that leverages feedback, data, and insights to enhance consumer relationships with an emphasis on intuitive, user-friendly technology to create a seamless ordering experience.

“Innovation is ingrained in our DNA at Taco Bell, and we view Voice AI as a means to improve the team member and consumer experiences,” said Dane Mathews, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Taco Bell. 

In addition to the expansion of Voice AI across Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus, five KFC restaurants in Australia are simultaneously testing Voice AI technology in drive-thrus, which is also being positively received by consumers and restaurant team members. 

Iconic fast food chain Wendy’s has joined hands with ParTech, Inc. (PAR), a global restaurant technology leader and provider of unified commerce for enterprise restaurants for industry-leading loyalty and offer solution, PAR Punchh®, to advance its already successful loyalty program into the next generation of customer engagement.

Wendy’s will leverage PAR Punchh’s AI-driven platform and Punchh Enterprise Support to enhance its loyalty program for customers who visit any of their nearly 6,500 locations across the United States and Canada. 

With PAR Punchh’s advanced loyalty expertise and personalization engine, Wendy's aims to advance its loyalty program with best-in-class gamified experiences, targeted offers designed to bring great food for a great value to its customers, and exclusive promotions tailored to individual customer preferences.

The open architecture of PAR Punchh ensures seamless integration into Wendy’s existing app and online ordering systems, optimizing their technology stack for both current and future operations. This integration will enhance the omni-channel experience, digitally and at the restaurant.

In collaboration with PAR Punchh’s team of loyalty strategists, Wendy’s will craft a comprehensive strategy, aiming to elevate the guest experience and drive customer satisfaction.

“Loyalty is not a feature, it’s an outcome – driving more customer lifetime value. We believe that coupling our technology with our skilled team of loyalty strategists not only gives brands the tools to build guest loyalty, but also puts us in the driver seat with them to deliver results," said Savneet Singh, CEO of PAR Technology.