Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, the classic American QSR brand known for its homestyle fried chicken, is equipping its franchise system with Hi Auto’s AI Order Taker as a competitive tool for drive-thru operations. Following strong results across 30 locations and Lee’s system move to a unified POS system and menu database, Lee’s is now making the technology available to all franchisees, giving every operator the option to bring AI-powered ordering into their restaurants.
For Lee’s, the decision reflects a broader commitment to investing in the tools that help franchisees succeed. Rather than mandating adoption, Lee’s is putting a proven resource in the hands of its operators and letting the results speak for themselves.
The approach respects franchisee independence while ensuring every operator in the Lee’s system has access to the same technology advantage. Franchisees can adopt AI ordering based on what makes sense for their business, backed by real performance data from stores already using the system.
“Our operators are the backbone of Lee’s, and it’s our job to give them every advantage we can,” said Ryan Weaver, CEO of Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken. “After seeing the results Hi Auto delivered in our first 30 stores, including better labor efficiency, shorter lines, a happier team, and guests getting their orders just the way they want them, we wanted to make this tool available to every franchisee who wants it.”
Across Lee’s restaurants already using Hi Auto, the AI Order Taker has consistently delivered over 95% order completion and 97% accuracy. For franchisees evaluating the technology, these aren’t pilot numbers. They reflect real-world performance across dozens of operating locations.
Restaurants using Hi Auto typically save 3-8 labor hours per day, see a 17% reduction in employee turnover, and experience a 1.5% increase in average ticket size. The system removes the burden of order taking from staff, reducing stress and freeing employees to focus on food quality and hospitality.
Making AI ordering available system-wide required real groundwork. Lee’s corporate team worked closely with Hi Auto to deploy the AI Order Taker across company-owned restaurants first, building operational knowledge before extending the option to franchisees. At the same time, Lee’s undertook a significant effort to unify its menu database across the system, creating the consistency that reliable AI ordering depends on. Without a unified menu database, each franchisee’s setup is different enough to make scalable AI deployment a serious challenge.
“The move to a unified POS system and menu database has been significant heavy lifting on the brand side, but with franchisee support, it’s well underway,” said Weaver. “Together with Hi Auto’s technical excellence, we’ve reached a point where this can be available for wide adoption.”
Hi Auto powers nearly 1,000 drive-thru locations globally and processes more than 100 million orders annually. The platform is trusted by 200 franchisees across three continents, with a proven record of reliability at scale.
“Lee’s leadership understands something important: the best technology investments are the ones that empower your operator,” said Roy Baharav, CEO of Hi Auto. “We’re proud to be part of a franchise system that does the hard work to set its franchisees up for success.”
Hi Auto is the AI Order Taker purpose-built for QSR drive-thrus, trusted by nearly 1,000 stores with 93%+ order completion and 96% accuracy. The platform helps IT teams and franchisees scale smarter with better operations, flexible execution, optimized upselling, and labor efficiency across locations.
For 60 years, Lee’s Famous Recipe® Chicken, a quick service franchise founded in Lima, Ohio, has specialized in fresh, never-frozen chicken. Lee’s has been recognized for three years in a row as a top 10 Fast Food Fried Chicken by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Award. Today, there are more than 130 Lee’s Famous Recipe® Chicken locations in 12 U.S. states and in Canada, most are individually owned and operated. For additional information, please visit LeesFamousRecipe.com.
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