PPresto Voice

Presto reported in September 2026 that its drive-thru voice AI gets roughly 95% of orders right, with workers stepping in on about 10%. The system is live in hundreds of drive-thrus and handled millions of real-world interactions in 2025, according to the company, and it now plugs into Toast as well as Oracle, PAR and Qu point-of-sale systems.

Presto Voice is best for quick-service brands and multi-unit franchisees with busy drive-thrus who want every car greeted, ordered and upsold the same way at every daypart. Pricing is shared by quote, a share of orders still goes to staff, and the company has rebuilt since going through financial stress and a Nasdaq delisting in 2024. We rate it 7.7/10 on our scale. We have not used Presto Voice; this review is based on Presto’s product page and press release and on trade and business press coverage.

Accuracy, Deployment and Funding Figures

Presto shares accuracy, deployment and funding figures. Most come from the company.

The 95% accuracy and 10% intervention figures are the most useful because they are specific. They tell a franchisee what to plan for: the AI handles most orders, but a crew member still needs a headset on during service to catch the rest. Ask Presto for the same two figures broken out by location and daypart during any pilot, and compare them with your current error rate.

The wider market explains why those numbers matter. Trade coverage of Presto’s 2026 round noted that Wendy’s has committed to scaling its own drive-thru voice AI, while McDonald’s ended its drive-thru AI test with IBM after widely reported problems. Drive-thru AI is now judged on accuracy and speed at hundreds of locations, not on demos, and Presto’s backers include the CEO of ElevenLabs, a voice AI company whose technology the coverage linked to voice quality.

The company history matters as much as the product. Presto was a Nasdaq-listed company that went through financial stress, defaults and a delisting in 2024 before refocusing on drive-thru voice ordering and raising new money. That turnaround appears to be working, with new customers and the Toast integration, and buyers can support a smooth rollout by agreeing contract protections, service levels and data ownership up front.

Between the Speaker and the POS

Presto Voice sits between the drive-thru speaker and the POS. A car pulls up, the AI talks to the guest and the order arrives at the kitchen display as if a crew member had entered it.

Installation and Menu Setup

Presto connects to the restaurant’s existing drive-thru hardware: the speaker, the confirmation board and the POS. It names Oracle, PAR, Qu and Toast as official POS partners. Presto says installation takes a few hours and that it ingests the menu automatically. Menu Unification converts varied menu data into a centralized, structured format, so brands do not have to standardize menus across franchisees first. Brand-level controls let one operator manage many locations and menus.

Taking the Order

The AI greets each guest with a greeting that can vary by daypart, traffic, menu and availability. It takes the order, including deep customization, modifiers, region-specific items and promotions, and reads it back on the confirmation board. Presto says the system handles multilingual orders but does not list the languages.

Upselling

Presto describes three kinds of upsell: preference-based suggestions matched to the current order, time-based suggestions tied to season, day or time, and item modifications such as premium proteins, toppings or sides. It says the AI makes four times more context-specific upsell attempts than before and that upselling can lift drive-thru revenue by up to 6%.

Choosing the Level of Oversight

Presto offers four operating models. In supervised AI, the AI runs orders while remote agents watch. In pure AI, no agents are involved. In agent-led mode, remote agents take orders and use the voice AI to enter them. In unsupervised AI, the AI runs orders and agents step in only when problems arise. Brands can start with more oversight and move toward less as accuracy proves out.

An Order, Step by Step

A car pulls up at 7:40 a.m. The AI greets the driver with the breakfast greeting and takes an order for two breakfast sandwiches, one without cheese, and a large coffee. Because it is morning and the order has no side, it offers hash browns, and the guest accepts. The order appears on the board, the guest confirms and the POS sends it to the kitchen display. When the next guest asks a question the AI cannot handle, a crew member on a headset takes over. Those handoffs are the roughly 10% of orders Presto says still need a worker.

Supervised Pilot Stores Before a Wider Rollout

A typical path starts with a few pilot stores under the supervised model, where remote agents watch the AI and correct mistakes in real time. Once accuracy holds across dayparts and menu changes, the brand can move pilot stores to unsupervised AI and add locations. Dairy Queen’s path, from an initial test to an expansion with select franchisees, is the kind of staged rollout most brands follow. Choose pilot stores that represent the hard cases: the busiest lane, the noisiest road and the location with the most menu variations.

Crew Members Finish the Orders That Need a Person

Crew members handle the share of orders the AI passes to them, payments at the window and any guest who asks for a person. Brand teams maintain menus, promotions and upsell rules, and someone should review accuracy reports by location to catch menu errors or noisy speakers.

Presto Voice Quoted per Brand

Presto does not publish pricing for Presto Voice.

What Changes at a Store Under Presto’s Reported Rates

Without published prices, the useful math is what the system changes at a store. These scenarios use Presto’s reported rates; order volumes and revenue are illustrative inputs to replace with your own.

• A store with 600 drive-thru orders a day: at a 10% intervention rate, crew members still step in on about 60 orders a day. At 95% accuracy, about 570 orders a day would be right without correction.
• A store with $1,000,000 in annual drive-thru sales: the maximum 6% upsell lift Presto cites would add up to $60,000 a year.
• A store with $1,500,000 in annual drive-thru sales: the same maximum lift would add up to $90,000 a year, the ceiling against which to judge the quote.

The “up to” in the 6% figure matters: treat it as a best case, not an average. The other variable is labor. If the AI handles 90% of orders, the order-taker role can shift to food preparation or the window, but only if the store adjusts its staffing plan. Ask Presto for pricing per location, any hardware or installation fees, the cost of remote agent supervision if you choose that model and the contract length.

Presto Voice Compared With SoundHound AI for Restaurants, ConverseNow and Kea AI

Restaurant voice AI splits between drive-thru specialists and phone-ordering agents. All four of these sell by quote.

Pick Presto Voice when the drive-thru is the priority and your POS is Oracle, PAR, Qu or Toast. SoundHound and ConverseNow suit chains that want one vendor for phone and drive-thru. Kea AI fits operators whose volume comes by phone. The deciding question is where orders are lost: a brand with long drive-thru lines and inconsistent upselling gains most from Presto, while a pizza chain with ringing phones gains more from a phone agent. See our restaurant AI agents and voice AI agents guides for more.

QSR Franchisees With Busy Lanes

• QSR franchisees with busy drive-thrus: consistent greetings and upsells at every daypart are where voice AI pays back.
• Brands on Toast: the September 2026 integration needs no substantial new hardware.
• Multi-brand operators: brand-level menu management and Menu Unification handle different menus across concepts.
• Operators short on crew: moving order-taking to AI frees a crew member for the kitchen or window.
• Brands that want to phase in automation: four oversight models allow a gradual move from supervised to unsupervised AI.
• Mid-market QSR brands: Presto pitches the Toast integration at emerging multi-location brands that previously could not justify an enterprise voice project.

Restaurants Without a Drive-Thru

• Restaurants without a drive-thru: Presto Voice is built for the drive-thru lane.
• Buyers who need list prices: all pricing is quoted.
• Brands on unsupported POS systems: confirm compatibility beyond Oracle, PAR, Qu and Toast.
• Buyers who weight vendor history heavily: Presto restructured after 2024, so careful contract review is sensible.

Intervention Rates, Vendor History and Lane Testing

• Intervention rate: about 10% of orders still need a worker, so keep a headset staffed during service.
• Vendor stability: Presto was delisted from Nasdaq in 2024 and restructured; ask for service level and data export terms.
• Upsell balance: four times more upsell attempts may not suit every regular; review guest feedback and tune the rules.
• Menu accuracy: wrong prices or retired items in the menu feed become wrong orders; audit menus after every promotion change.
• Noise and hardware: old speakers and busy roads hurt any voice system; test at your noisiest locations first.
• Vendor figures: accuracy and upsell rates are Presto’s numbers, not independent audits.
• Guest acceptance: some guests dislike talking to a machine; track hang-ups, complaints and requests for a person by location in the first months.

$10 Million From Metropolitan Partners in January 2026

• January 8, 2026: Presto raised $10 million led by Metropolitan Partners Group to accelerate enterprise drive-thru rollouts.
• January 12, 2026: Trade coverage framed the round as drive-thru AI entering a prove-it era, following Presto’s 2024 restructuring.
• September 21, 2026: Presto joined Toast’s partner ecosystem, reporting about 95% accuracy and 10% worker intervention.

One of the More Proven Drive-Thru Voice Systems

Presto Voice is one of the more proven drive-thru voice systems, with hundreds of live lanes, millions of interactions and named QSR customers such as Taco John’s, CKE, Wienerschnitzel and Dairy Queen. The Toast integration widens its market, and the choice of oversight models lets brands move at their own pace.

The product case is clearest for franchisees who struggle to staff the order-taking position on every shift. A system that greets every car the same way, never forgets the upsell and passes hard orders to a person keeps the lane moving with one fewer headset, provided accuracy holds at that store.

It scores 7.7/10 on our scale. Its autonomy is strong, and the score reflects areas Presto could build on: published pricing, a lower intervention rate than today’s 10%, independent performance figures and a longer track record since its 2024 restructuring. QSR brands should pilot it at a handful of high-volume, noisy locations, measure accuracy, speed of service and average check against control stores, and compare quotes with SoundHound before rolling out.

Accuracy and POS Compatibility for Presto

How Much Does Presto Voice Cost?

Presto does not publish pricing. Brands receive a quote. Ask about per-location fees, installation, remote agent supervision and contract length.

How Accurate Is Presto Drive-Thru AI?

Presto reported roughly 95% order accuracy in September 2026, with workers intervening in about 10% of orders. These are company figures.

Which POS Systems Work With Presto Voice?

Presto lists Oracle, PAR, Qu and Toast as official POS partners. With Toast, orders taken by Presto go to the kitchen display through the Toast POS.

Can Presto Voice Run Without Human Staff?

Brands can choose an unsupervised AI model where staff step in only when problems arise, or pure AI with no agents. In practice, Presto says about one order in ten still needs a worker.

What Happened to Presto Automation?

Presto went through financial stress and a Nasdaq delisting in 2024, spun off its tabletop business and refocused on enterprise drive-thru voice ordering. It raised $10 million in January 2026.