The South has a love-hate relationship with Bojangles' AI robot
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A recent Bojangles order (this one had sauce). Photo: Alexandria Sands/Axios
On a recent tragic day, I drove away from Bojangles with sauceless chicken supremes after my first encounter with the AI drive-thru bot, "Bo-Linda."
Why it matters: Charlotte's hometown restaurant, known for its Southern charm, now greets its customers with AI — leaving them divided over whether the impersonal tech is worth the efficiency.
What they're saying: "Bojangles has always had that warm Southern hospitality, the kind that reminds me of visiting my grandmother for breakfast," says Anthony Ballard, a Denver, North Carolina, native.
- "The AI voice, while functional, didn't offer that same feeling."
The other side: Richard Del Valle, Bojangles' chief information officer, says Bo-Linda is actually improving the guest experience. It's freeing up a third of workers' tasks so they can interact with customers rather than listening for the next order, he says.
- "Bo-Linda's never cost anyone a job."
- Still, Del Valle doesn't envision a world where Bo-Linda is at every Bojangles. Some franchise partners "believe strongly in human interaction."
How it works: At more than half of Bojangles today, customers are greeted by Bo-Linda. She speaks English and Spanish.
- Bo-Linda can capture detailed orders, the company says. For example, early into her debut, Bojangles added "hollowed-out biscuit" to Bo-Linda's vocabulary after an oddly specific request.
- "I was taken aback but also impressed," Doug Duncan, a Concord resident, says. "I asked for both my pieces to be thighs. And wouldn't you know it got it right!"
She learns, too. Last week, she had to adapt to how different people pronounce the new "Fuego" Breakfast Bo-Rito menu item.
💠My thought bubble: Bo-Linda got stuck on my sauce order. A human intervened and had me pull up to the window. That's how I ended up sauceless with dry tenders.
- The worker also seemed confused, asking if I ordered a mac and cheese. I hadn't.
- I'm not sure who is to blame: the human, the robot, or a miscommunication between the two?
By the numbers: I may be among the roughly 1% of customers whose AI order didn't go as planned.
- Bojangles believes Bo-Linda is 98.5%-99% successful, meaning employees are only interjecting 1 out of 100 times.
Bo-Linda can also be a persuasive salesperson, asking if you want to "Bo-size" your order.
- One customer, Mary-Catherine Berger, says it felt "predatory" when Bo-Linda offered only medium and large combos. She spent more than intended.
- "I very rarely go there anymore since they implemented the new tech," she says. "I find it to be deeply, frustratingly impersonal."
Catch up quick: Bo-Linda has been on the job for about two years. It debuted at the restaurant off South Tryon in 2023 and has expanded quickly.
- Bojangles developed Bo-Linda during COVID hiring difficulties. The labor crunch subsided, but the company found the technology efficient and kept with it.
- Bo-Linda is now at 450 restaurants and counting.
Zoom out: McDonald's experimented with AI drive-thru ordering but ended the test in 2024 after social media reports of bizarre mistakes. One customer said the system thought she'd ordered hundreds of dollars of chicken McNuggets.
- Taco Bell's AI-powered ordering also sparked complaints of glitches and delays.
- Bojangles has so far avoided those viral moments, but is less prone to them with just 880 restaurants.
The bottom line: Two years in, Bo-Linda is helping locations prevent turnover, stay open later and prompt customers to spend more. Whether that's worth sacrificing human touch depends on who you ask.
- And so far, she's not trying to take over the world.
- "We've detected no aggressiveness in Bo-Linda to date," Del Valle says.