Yum! Brands teams up with NVIDIA to accelerate AI innovation in restaurants worldwide

GLOBAL – Yum! Brands has partnered with NVIDIA to accelerate AI technology development across its global quick service restaurant (QSR) brands.

Yum! Brands and NVIDIA have partnered to enhance restaurant operations through scalable and cost-effective AI applications.

This collaboration will strengthen Yum!’s Byte by Yum! platform, which launched in February 2025, by integrating advanced AI capabilities that streamline operations and improve efficiency.

The new technology consolidates essential restaurant systems into a single, manageable solution while accelerating AI adoption across the company.

Byte by Yum! serves as a central hub for managing various operational aspects, including online and mobile app ordering, point-of-sale systems, kitchen and delivery coordination, menu management, inventory and labor tracking, and team member resources.

By incorporating NVIDIA NIM microservices, the platform will optimize operations, refine workflows, and enhance the overall customer and employee experience.

These microservices operate within NVIDIA AI Enterprise on Amazon Web Services (AWS), ensuring seamless integration of AI-powered solutions.

Joe Park, president of Byte by Yum! and chief digital and technology officer at Yum! Brands, highlighted that this partnership will enable the company to leverage extensive consumer and operational data to develop smarter AI engines.

These innovations will create smoother, more efficient experiences for customers and employees alike.

The AI-driven solutions will focus on three key areas within Yum! Brands’ operations. Voice-automated order-taking AI agents will enhance drive-through and call center efficiency by streamlining interactions and reducing wait times.

Computer vision technology will improve back-of-house operations and drive-through management by providing real-time analytics.

Additionally, AI-powered performance assessment tools will offer restaurant managers personalized action plans, modeled on top-performing locations, to optimize overall efficiency.

A pilot program featuring these AI innovations is already underway at select Taco Bell and Pizza Hut locations in the U.S., with plans for a broader rollout to 500 restaurants, including KFC and Habit Burger & Grill, by the second quarter of 2025.

Andrew Sun, global director of retail, consumer packaged goods, and quick-service restaurants at NVIDIA, emphasized that the company’s AI software makes operational improvements more accessible and cost-effective, even for large-scale restaurant chains.

He noted that integrating NVIDIA’s AI with Yum!’s proprietary platform will accelerate AI innovation in the restaurant industry by providing real-time, context-aware intelligence through a scalable inference platform.

Sign up HERE to receive our email newsletters with the latest news and insights from Africa and around the world, and follow us on our WhatsApp channel for updates.