Wendy's CEO Todd Penegor told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday the fast-food chain's artificial intelligence partnership with Google is the "first step" toward additional technology changes at its restaurants.
Wendy's and Alphabet-owned Google worked to create an AI chatbot specifically designed for drive-thru ordering. The Ohio-based burger chain will run a pilot program of the AI drive-thru at several locations in the Columbus area starting in June, Penegor told Cramer.
This new drive-thru feature aims to "take out the slowest point in the order process, ordering at the speaker box," to create a more pleasant restaurant experience, the CEO said. "We're going to learn a lot. First step on a lot of innovation," he added.
Penegor stressed his commitment to modernize Wendy's over the next few quarters, emphasizing the opportunity with digital menu boards, for example. All together, he said Wendy's is trying to "drive the restaurant of the future" with these initiatives.
Penegor said another area of opportunity lies with expanding Wendy's store hours. "We're going to lean into late night," he said. "We know we've under-indexed and have an opportunity to drive a lot of growth" by targeting the late-night crowd.
Earlier Wednesday, Wendy's reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, with total revenue at $528.8 million, up 8.2% from the year-earlier period. That compared to the $522 million consensus estimate from analysts. The company's earnings per share of 21 cents was 1 cent higher than expected.
But despite the positive results, Wendy's declined to raise its full-year guidance, which may have contributed to its stock falling around 2% at its lows Wednesday; but it closed up 1%, at $23.21.
Disclaimer: Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust owns shares of Alphabet.
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