Burger King’s ‘Patty’ To Give A Taste Of AI World: Chatbot That Tracks Politeness & Stock Explained

Last Updated:February 27, 2026, 15:58 IST

Burger King’s Patty, an OpenAI-powered chatbot, helps staff with recipes, tracks staff politeness, updates menu and even alerts managers. All you need to know, explained

Burger King has recently introduced a new OpenAI-powered AI chatbot called ‘Patty’ as part of its BK Assistant platform.

The AI-powered headsets can recite recipes, alert managers when inventories are low and even track how friendly employees are to customers.

Restaurant Brands – the Miami-based company that owns Burger King, Popeyes and other brands – said Thursday it’s currently testing the OpenAI-powered headsets in 500 U.S. restaurants.

What is ‘Patty’?

The bot is designed to assist restaurant teams and streamline operations through several functions:

Employee Monitoring: It lives inside cloud-connected headsets and tracks “friendliness" by identifying key phrases such as “welcome", “please", and “thank you".

Operational Assistance: Employees can ask Patty for meal preparation instructions (e.g., how many bacon strips go on a specific burger) or equipment cleaning guides.

Inventory & Maintenance: The bot notifies managers when ingredients like Diet Coke or burger patties are low and when equipment, such as a shake machine, requires maintenance.

Menu Updates: It can automatically remove out-of-stock items from digital menu boards and the BK App within 15 minutes.

How it will work

If a customer uses a QR code to report a messy bathroom, the manager will be alerted.

Employees can ask Patty how to make various menu items or tell Patty to remove items from digital menus if they’ve run out of ingredients.

Burger King said it’s also exploring using Patty as a way to improve customer service. The system can track when employees say key words like “welcome," “please" and “thank you" and share that with managers.

What Burger King said

When asked about that capability Thursday by The Associated Press, Burger King said the intent is to use Patty as a coaching tool, not a tracker of individual employees.

“It’s not about scoring individuals or enforcing scripts. It’s about reinforcing great hospitality and giving managers helpful, real-time insights so they can recognize their teams more effectively," Burger King said in a statement.

Burger King added that the key words are “one of many signals to help managers understand service patterns."

“We believe hospitality is fundamentally human. The role of this technology is to support our teams so they can stay present with guests," Burger King said.

When will it be rolled out?

Expansion: Burger King intends to roll out the BK Assistant platform to all 7,000 U.S. locations by the end of 2026.

Unlike some competitors, Burger King is only “tinkering" with AI-powered drive-thru ordering in fewer than 100 locations, viewing it as a “risky bet" due to potential customer readiness issues.

Other AI Initiatives

Million Dollar Whopper: BK previously used generative AI to allow customers to create and visualize custom burger ideas as part of a million-dollar contest.

REBEKA: In France, the company uses a conversational bot called REBEKA to help business teams analyze transactional data using natural language.

What are other companies doing?

Burger King is one of several fast food chains experimenting with artificial intelligence. Yum Brands said last spring it was partnering with Nvidia to develop AI technologies for its brands, which include KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

McDonald’s ended a partnership with IBM in 2024 that was testing automated orders at its drive-thrus. The company is now working with Google on AI systems.

With AP, agency inputs

News explainers Burger King’s ‘Patty’ To Give A Taste Of AI World: Chatbot That Tracks Politeness & Stock Explained

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