Rising Star Uses AI to Improve the Drive-Thru Experience
Hospitality Technology’s Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards, now in their fifth year, recognize women who are making their mark in a male-dominated industry. In the coming weeks we will be profiling each of the 10 honorees in-depth on hospitalitytech.com/topwomen21.
Rising Star
Brandy Anderson
Brandy Anderson received HT’s Rising Star award for her work as Vice President of Operations, Valyant AI – a company that allows drive-thrus to take orders using only artificial intelligence.
Anderson wears many hats -- she manages Valyant AI’s platform for transcribing audio to train its speech-to-text models. Improving the platform’s capabilities allowed Valyant AI to achieve high accuracy -- even in a noisy drive-thru environment.
Anderson has a background in technology and software, and she was interested in working with artificial intelligence at the Denver-based tech company. “I love working in a field that’s endlessly interesting and challenging and has the potential for creating widespread and positive impacts. Especially in the restaurant industry, I think there is a lot we can do to make things better for employees and for customers,” Anderson said.
“Technology is meant to make life better and to help people, which I feel especially passionate about contributing toward. We’re taking a common process like order-taking and we’re making it more efficient for the staff and more delightful for the customer. It’s the ultimate win-win, improving the experience for everyone involved.”
Using the Power of AI to Optimize
Anderson is curious to watch AI’s usage in the restaurant sector evolve. “There is very interesting work being done with AI that helps reduce food waste, identifies food safety issues, preps ingredients and cooks food, and more. It’s amazing how much can be optimized, and I think we’ll see that translate into significant benefits for restaurants and customers alike.”
Restaurant operations is one area where Anderson expects technology to take off in the future. “Freezers will be equipped with open-door alerts and sensors that track inventory in real-time. It won’t be unusual to see a robot helping with food prep and cooking meals, or to hear an AI taking orders at the drive-thru. Employees won’t be responsible for so many tasks on their own, and the experience for customers will typically be much better too.”
Anderson said she’s proud of her role in building Valyant AI. “It takes all of our team to create something great, and I’m proud of the important role I serve in making it possible,” Anderson said.
“My success at Valyant AI has been the result of consistent dedication and positioning other team members to succeed. Surrounded by brilliant team members and their highly visible achievements, it becomes easy to believe the work that you’re doing goes relatively unnoticed. Being publicly recognized for my contributions serves as an encouraging reminder that my role is highly valued by my colleagues and others in the industry.”
See what Brandy Anderson has to say about receiving the Top Women in Restaurant Technology - Rising Star award. (30 second video)
About the Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards
Winners were chosen by Hospitality Technology magazine and members of its Research Advisory Board. Winners will be profiled in the Summer 2021 issue of Hospitality Technology magazine and throughout June and July in digital profiles on www.hospitalitytech.com. The winners were announced and honored during a virtual awards program on April 14 at the 26th annual MURTEC (Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference), which was streamed online. In the coming weeks we will be profiling each of the 10 honorees in-depth on hospitalitytech.com/topwomen21.