Chick-fil-A will keep real people taking drive-thru orders rather than hand the job to artificial intelligence, a stand CEO Andrew Cathy says protects the hospitality customers expect.
In a recent interview, Cathy drew a clear line: the privately held chicken chain is not planning to let software replace the employee who greets you at the speaker box. FOX Business reported his comments after he spoke with CNBC, and the contrast with rivals is hard to miss.
McDonald’s and Wendy’s are already testing or rolling out voice systems meant to speed up lanes and cut errors. Cathy is betting that the human exchange still matters more than the latest gadget.
Cathy put the company’s preference in plain terms.
He told CNBC:
"From our experience, we really want that hospitality to be human to human,"
He went further on why the chain will not swap that moment for a machine.
"We’re not going to substitute that interaction with technology, because we feel like that hospitality is so important to create that warm environment for consumers."
That does not mean Chick-fil-A is allergic to new tools. Cathy said the company is looking at artificial intelligence behind the scenes. The order window, though, stays staffed by people.
He framed the larger industry moment as an open question rather than a race.
"We think about all these new things into the future, about how will people want to receive food in the future?"
And he added:
"It’s a fun time in the industry, to think about all the possibilities of what we can do to make a better experience for our guests."
Chick-fil-A did not immediately give FOX Business extra comment beyond the interview.
While Cathy holds the line on live order-takers, two major competitors are leaning into automated voices.
At an investor day last month, McDonald’s said it plans to test a voice AI system, referred to in coverage as Archy, with a related headline using the spelling Archiq, to take orders in English and Spanish. Related reporting described trials at five locations across the country.
Wendy’s has been deploying FreshAI drive-thru technology built with Google Cloud. The company presents the system as a way to improve ordering speed, accuracy, and consistency.
Those moves fit a familiar pattern in fast food: cut friction, standardize the script, and let software handle the first hello. Cathy is arguing the first hello is the product.
Chick-fil-A has already shown it will spend on design when the goal is more capacity and cleaner handoffs, without removing the employee from the customer.
In 2023 the chain laid out digitally focused restaurant designs meant to use technology to “elevate the human touchpoints” while keeping person-to-person contact at the center of the visit.
One example opened in 2024 in McDonough, Georgia. The elevated drive-thru runs four lanes under a raised kitchen and uses a conveyor system the company says can deliver a meal to an employee every six seconds. Management says the layout can handle two to three times as many vehicles as a traditional Chick-fil-A drive-thru. Customers can order ahead on a device or place the order with a person on site.
The point of the hardware is throughput. The face at the window remains a worker.
Photo captions in the coverage captured that everyday scene: an employee taking orders in Jackson Township, Ohio, and early customers rolling through a new location in Keizer, Oregon. The chain’s model still runs on those exchanges.
The stance comes from a company that is not struggling for relevance. Franchise disclosure figures put Chick-fil-A at roughly $23.9 billion in U.S. systemwide sales in 2025. It remains privately held.
That scale gives Cathy room to reject a trend other brands treat as inevitable. Rivals chase faster tickets and fewer labor variables. Chick-fil-A is treating the short conversation at the board as part of what people buy when they buy the sandwich.
Plenty of chains will keep training bots to say “please pull forward.” Cathy is telling his operators the warmer path still runs through a real voice and a real person.
When the industry rushes to automate the hello, the company that keeps a human in the lane is making a bet on manners, memory, and the simple fact that customers notice who is listening.
