Shake Shack is adding more artificial intelligence to the burger chain’s menu.
On Wednesday, the company announced “Project Catalyst,” a four-pillar initiative that will prioritize technology investments on digital systems, AI, and data to improve service speed and accuracy, generate insights that will make it easier for operators to run their restaurants, and offer more AI-driven personalized promotions to lure diners. Shake Shack says these investments are critical to help the business as it plots an expansion of the concept to 1,500 company-operated locations.
“We’re opening a lot of new Shacks,” says Justin Mennen, who has served as chief information and technology officer at Shake Shack since January 2025. “What brought the company from one to 400 Shacks is probably a little different than what’s going to bring it from 400 to 1,500. We need to have a very efficient technology stack to power operators.”
Mennen says he’s especially focused on what he calls practical AI, which will include use cases that can simplify workflows for the corporate team, eliminate manual tasks, and help restaurant operators make better decisions. These new tools include Ask Shack, an internal knowledge-based AI chatbot that’s currently in pilot. One way that Ask Shack is currently being used is to help the real estate team analyze new restaurant locations.
Within the restaurant itself, Mennen says he intends that AI will be used to monitor data from disparate parts of the business—drive-thru orders, the queue at the kiosk, and in-store demand—and then make recommendations to shift labor to prioritize the most urgent tasks. When making these investments, Mennen says he wants to see a better guest experience, more accurate and faster orders, and more precise promotions through Shake Shack’s newly launched loyalty program.
Ideally, restaurant team members won’t even know that they’re working closely with AI. “They shouldn’t have to understand whether it’s an AI agent,” says Mennen.
Another pillar of Shake Shack’s Project Catalyst involves integrating a new vendor, Qu, a restaurant technology company that sells a consolidated, cloud-based point of sale system to handle all orders across online, app, and kiosks. Mennen says that Shake Shack tested Qu in the company’s restaurant labs in its Atlanta and New York offices, where the chain tests various technology solutions. He’s now piloting the technology to ensure all POS use cases are covered and anticipates making adjustments before Qu is fully rolled out.
Qu’s technology will make it easier for Shake Shack to add limited-time menu items to the chain’s digital menu boards, give operators more visibility into order flow, and help handle the massive swell in orders that are made at kiosks. Shake Shack, like many restaurant chains, made a big investment in kiosks after the pandemic and that channel is now larger than in-person ordering with a cashier.
The two remaining areas of focus for Project Catalyst are the chain’s new loyalty program rollout and an effort to unite operational data, guest behavior, and analytics. Mennen declined to quantify whether the investments in Project Catalyst were an increase from Shake Shack’s baseline IT spending.
Shake Shack’s efforts to lean on technology to more efficiently run restaurants comes as the broader industry faces increased expenses that have been exacerbated by tariffs, higher rents, and increased wages. Over the past two years, restaurant and takeout costs have climbed at a faster pace than grocery channels, according to consulting giant McKinsey.
Larger chains including Starbucks, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King have also unveiled AI initiatives that have included AI-enabled headsets, using the technology to help predict when equipment maintenance issues occur, and to support drive-thru orders. The latter has been a particular popular AI use case, though results have been very mixed.
Another technological area of focus for the industry has been robotics, autonomous systems that can whip up fries or salads, serve as a waiter, or more commonly, be used for food delivery. Shake Shack has explored some partnerships in this space, including leveraging Serve Robotics’ autonomous robots to handle online deliveries from apps like Uber Eats in select markets like Los Angeles and Jersey City, New Jersey. But Mennen says that robotics aren’t a core priority.
“Project Catalyst is really, from an AI standpoint, focused on practical use that’s going to drive more immediate ROI for us,” says Mennen.
John Kell
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
