SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Presto Automation Inc. (Nasdaq: PRST), the largest drive-thru automation technology provider in the hospitality industry, is announcing an expansion of its partnership with Del Taco Restaurants, Inc., the nation’s second largest Mexican quick service restaurant, to provide automated voice ordering at several drive-thru restaurants nationwide. Its artificial intelligence (A.I.) powered solution, Presto Voice™, is already operating 24/7 at select Del Taco locations where it is significantly helping operations by improving labor productivity, increasing suggestive selling, and boosting guest and staff experience. Del Taco has 600+ locations nationwide.
“With Del Taco’s desire to build a drive-thru that improves operational efficiency while delivering an elevated guest experience, the Presto A.I.-based voice assistant solution is a natural choice,” said Kevin Pope, Vice President Operations Innovation at Del Taco. “The Presto platform and team have exceeded our expectations and we are excited as we prepare to deploy the solution at additional restaurants across the nation.”
Last year, Del Taco conducted a comprehensive test of Presto Voice. During this test, the Presto conversational A.I. voice assistant greeted guests, reliably accepted their orders, and consistently offered upsell suggestions. Over 95% of the drive-thru orders placed using Presto Voice are being completed with no staff intervention, and seamlessly being sent to the Point of Sale (“POS”) system and the Kitchen Display System (“KDS”). As a result, Del Taco has now decided to start deploying Presto Voice at additional locations nationwide.
“We are excited to be partnering with Del Taco as their drive-thru A.I. voice automation partner,” said Dan Mosher, Chief Revenue Officer of Presto. “Del Taco’s vision of the future of the drive-thru is inspiring and Presto is the best positioned automation technology provider to support it.”
As the demand for convenience goes up across the restaurant category and staffing headwinds continue, automation is an efficient and effective answer. Presto Voice offers a significant advantage to restaurants by minimizing human error, reducing wait times, and freeing up staff so they can focus on improving customer experience.
Presto Voice has proven to be the best positioned automation technology partner for the drive-thru restaurant industry with its superior reliability and ability to quickly scale across thousands of restaurants. It is even more powerful when augmented with Presto Vision™, another A.I.-powered product, that provides 16 unique operational metrics on drive-thru performance. These real-time metrics can help reduce wait time and increase order accuracy.
To learn more about Presto’s products, please contact mktg@presto.com or visit presto.com.
About Presto
Presto overlays next-gen digital solutions onto the physical world. Presto’s enterprise-grade voice, vision, and touch technologies help hospitality businesses thrive while delighting guests. With over 300 million transactions processed, Presto is one of the largest labor automation technology providers in the industry. Founded at M.I.T. in 2008, Presto is headquartered in Silicon Valley, Calif. with customers including many of the top 20 restaurant chains in the U.S.
About Del Taco
Del Taco offers a unique variety of both Mexican and American favorites such as burritos and fries, prepared fresh in every restaurant's working kitchen with the value and convenience of a drive-thru. Del Taco's menu items taste better because they are made with quality ingredients like freshly grilled chicken and carne asada steak, fresh house-made guacamole, fresh house-grated cheddar cheese, slow-cooked beans made from scratch, and signature creamy Queso Blanco.
Founded in 1964, today Del Taco serves more than three million guests each week at its approximately 600 restaurants across 16 states. Del Taco’s commitment to providing guests with the best quality and value for their money originates from cooking, chopping, shredding, and grilling menu items from scratch. For more information, visit deltaco.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “plan,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “outlook,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “continue,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “should,” “would” and other similar words and expressions, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release or as of the date they are made. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Presto disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. Presto cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Presto. In addition, Presto cautions you that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to the following risks and uncertainties: our ability to manage our growth effectively, to sustain our recent revenue growth or attract new customers; the limited operating history with our new Vision and Voice products in a new and developing market; our ability to achieve revenue growth while our expenses increase; continued adverse impacts from COVID-19 (including as a result of global supply chain shortages); the loss of any of our three largest customers or a reduction in their business with us; our ability to improve and enhance the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security, or scalability of our platform to respond to customers’ evolving needs; our ability to protect the security of our customers’ information; changing privacy laws, regulations and standards, and our ability to comply with contractual obligations and laws related to data privacy and security; unfavorable conditions in the restaurant industry or the global economy, including with respect to food, labor, and occupancy costs; the availability of capital or financing on acceptable terms, if at all; financial covenants and other restrictions on our actions contained in our financing agreements that may limit our operational flexibility; the length and unpredictability of our sales cycles and the amount of investments required in sales efforts; material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and, our ability to remediate these deficiencies; our ability to continue as a going concern; our ability to receive additional financing in a timely manner; shortages, price increases, changes, delays or discontinuations of hardware; our ability to maintain relationships with our payment processors; our reliance on computer hardware, licensed software and services rendered by third parties; U.S. laws and regulations (including with respect to payment transaction processing), many of which are unsettled and still developing, and our or our customers’ ability to comply with such laws and regulations; significant changes in U.S. and international trade policies that restrict imports or increase tariffs; any requirements to collect additional sales taxes or be subject to other tax liabilities that may increase the costs to our customers; our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property rights; claims by third parties of intellectual property infringement; our use of open-source software in our platform; and other economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Presto’s business generally as set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
