'Human to Human': Chick-fil-A CEO Rules Out AI for Drive-Thru Orders as Rivals Embrace Technology

06 Oct 2026, 16:12 by Lucas Nolan · Breitbart

Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy says the company will keep humans, not AI, taking orders at its drive-thru lanes, setting it apart from competitors moving in the opposite direction.

“This has been a good year,” Cathy told CNBC, pointing to franchise disclosures showing 2025 revenue climbed 14 percent to $10.3 billion, while net income rose a slimmer 1 percent to $1.05 billion. Roughly 3,000 Chick-fil-A locations produced $23.92 billion in system sales last year, making the chain the third largest in the country by sales, trailing only McDonald’s and Starbucks. The company opened 179 new restaurants in 2025.

“Our operators have done such a good job executing on the fundamentals and adding the hospitality to it,” Cathy said, crediting the franchise owners who run the chain’s restaurants for its performance.

Hospitality seems central to Chick-fil-A’s approach to AI. Cathy told CNBC that Chick-fil-A is exploring AI for various uses behind the scenes, but drawing a clear line at the drive-thru window. “From our experience, we really want that hospitality to be human to human,” he said. “We’re not gonna substitute that interaction with technology, because we feel like that hospitality is so important to create that warm environment for consumers.”

Other major chains are headed the other way. McDonald’s announced at its investor day last month that it plans to test technology called “Archy” for taking orders in English and Spanish. It’s also testing a separate AI drive-thru system, ArchiQ, at five locations around the country. Wendy’s has been rolling out its own system, FreshAi, built with Google Cloud and meant to improve ordering speed, accuracy and consistency.

Every company in the American economy is wrestling with how to implement AI without damaging its brand image. Breitbart News social media director Wynton Hall has written his New York Times bestseller Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI to serve as the definitive guide on how the MAGA movement can create positions on AI that benefit humanity without handing control of our nation to the leftists of Silicon Valley or allowing the Chinese to take over the world.