Me, Myself, and AI Hungry for Learning: Wendy’s Will Croushorn
41 snips
Dec 16, 2025 Will Croushorn, a product leader at Wendy's and co-creator of the FreshAi drive-through voice agent, transforms fast food ordering with AI. He dives into how FreshAi processes over 150,000 orders daily while offering multilingual support and improving accessibility for all customers. Will discusses the importance of empathy in AI, shares surprises like hidden Easter eggs in orders, and reveals new metrics for enhancing customer experience. His journey reflects a blend of curiosity and innovation, aiming to redefine convenience in the fast-food industry.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
AI Enables New Forms Of Service
- AI lets companies serve customers in ways previously impossible, like multilingual and accessibility-first experiences.
- The technology opens new use cases beyond automation, such as reducing cognitive load with on-screen transcripts.
Drive-Thru Complexity Is Enormous
- Drive-thru ordering is massively variable with trillions of possible phrasings for a menu.
- Handling intent requires modeling both language and the emotional, noisy context of real customers.
Testing With A Customer Who Stuttered
- Will recounts testing with a customer who stutters and finding competitor systems blocked him from ordering.
- FreshAi handled his order and the team used specialist feedback to improve accessibility across sites.