Saw my local coffee shop double their drive-thru speed with an AI scheduler

I go to Brew Planet in Portland every morning. 6 months ago they switched to an AI system for order predictions during rush. Wait times dropped from 12 minutes to under 5. Has anyone else seen this kind of change at a small business near them?

3 comments

3 Comments

max4152mo ago

Read an article in the local paper about how they actually use the system to predict not just rush times but also which drinks are most popular by weather. Rainy days they pre-make more chai lattes and hot chocolate, sunny days it's cold brew. Seems like the real magic is in that kind of detail work, not just speeding up the line. Makes me wonder how many other small shops could pull this off without losing that personal touch.

kimr101mo ago

Wait, it PREDICTS based on the weather? That's wild. Like, actually scary how smart that is. I mean, I knew AI could guess what I want to buy, but planning the whole cold brew vs. chai latte thing based on rain? That feels like black magic to me. My brain still struggles to remember if I need milk or not when I get to the store, you know? So the idea that a machine is out there thinking "oh, it's drizzly, better load up on the hot chocolate mix" just blows my mind. I wonder if Brew Planet's system knows when I'm in a bad mood too, haha. That would really freak me out.

gavin_hill272mo ago

You had the same experience at a coffee shop in Austin, wait times dropped from 10 minutes to 3.