Fast food tech specialist Acrelec has developed an AI-powered weighing system that reduces bagging errors and ensures customers get all the items they ordered. The system takes less than a second to operate and can be used for both drive-thru orders and home delivery.

Restaurants and fast food outlets are both increasingly struggling with delivering food for consumption off the premises. Covid-19 has increased demand for home deliveries of food from both traditional restaurants and fast food chains, and demands for drive-thru operations has also increased. At the same time, food operations are struggling with labour shortages. Delivering complete and correct orders to customers at speed is a challenge, and getting it wrong causes customer dissatisfaction and poor reviews on social media as well.

Acrelec’s Double-Check employs AI algorithms to assess if the weight of an order is accurate. Results show that it reduces bagging mistakes by 40 percent, increases positive ratings by 0.2 to 0.3 points (out of 5), which translates to a 50 percent decrease in order refunds, and encourages better rankings in food order apps, which increases channel sales by 10 to 15 percent.

“We know that restaurants worldwide are struggling to keep up with the high demand for off-premise orders and an ongoing labour shortage. It’s damaging to restaurants’ reputations and customer retention when errors on orders are made. Existing restaurants running Double-Check have witnessed immediate return on operational efficiencies, sales, and customer experience,” said Acrelec Executive Vice President of Food and Beverage Bruno Lo-Ré. “Double-Check was designed with these real-world restaurant constraints in mind. Order checking takes less than one second, and an intuitive interface ensures the weight check is not a hindrance for crew members.”

Typically, restaurant staff will place an order on the AI-powered scale. They will select the collection order on the screen, with one screen for all delivery carriers. Double-Check’s AI algorithm will show in less than a second the actual weight of the order versus what is predicted. If no errors are identified, the order is confirmed, and the bag can be sealed and handed to the customer.

For delivery, the system is independent of the restaurant’s POS to simplify roll-out, and comes connected to Acrelec’s monitoring platform for supervision. Order checks are traceable and provide data of each transaction to management for continuous improvement. In case of an error, products are grouped to identify the issue quickly. In turn, restaurant teams are better equipped to provide the operational data and analysis needed to help audit in case of disputes. Double-Check also integrates with food delivery apps for instant feedback on customer complaints, allowing for continuous service improvement, or challenging future refund requests for repeat offenders.

“Our passion at Acrelec is delivering breakthroughs for restaurants and retail companies to drive business results directly,” Lo-Ré added. “Introducing Double-Check is yet another step forward in providing a full ecosystem of technology solutions that help brands and the people who work for them maximise their potential and enhance the customer journey.”

Acrelec counts over 80,000 installations around the world in 70 countries. The company numbers McDonald’s, Dunkin’, Burger King, KFC, and Taco Bell among its clients.