Voice AI for Hospitality: Podcast Interview with Victoria Ludemann and Stephen Brown from Awesome AI

We are excited to share a conversation I had with Stephen Brown from Awesome AI, where we explored how Voice AI for restaurants and hospitality is already changing the way customers order, staff work, and businesses grow.

Stephen’s background is incredible. From starting at McDonald’s and later running operations excellence at Burger King NZ, he played a huge role in rolling out voice AI platforms in drive-throughs. Today, through his consultancy Awesome AI here in New Zealand, and his representation of Vox AI, he’s helping brands adopt voice technology in New Zealand, Australia, and America, streamlining their hospitality operations.

What Voice AI Actually Looks Like in Restaurants

When Burger King NZ trialled voice AI ordering in drive-throughs, Stephen explained that it wasn’t just plug-and-play like Siri or Alexa. It required three core pieces:

• Infrastructure & Integrations – payment systems, POS, menu boards, all tied into the AI
• Customer Experience – using Kiwi voices instead of American ones so customers felt at home
• Staff Adoption – introducing the AI as a digital team member (“Paddy”), which reduced fear and improved buy-in

And yes, Stephen’s own voice was cloned for some drive-throughs - so if you’re ordering in Dunedin, you may still hear him today!

The Benefits: Speed, Revenue, and Staff Wellbeing

• Faster Orders: AI reduced wait times from almost a minute to around five seconds. That means more cars through the drive-through and more sales.
• Consistent Upsells: Unlike a tired order-taker, AI never forgets to offer add-ons, improving average order value.
• Lower Staff Turnover: A survey showed that Burger King restaurants with AI had significantly lower staff turnover than those without. Staff reported less stress and higher morale because the AI handled abusive or difficult customers.

“In AI-enabled stores, turnover was lower and morale higher.” – Survey, Burger King NZ

This is proof that voice AI supports human performance, not replaces it.

Use Cases Stephen Highlighted

Beyond drive-throughs, Stephen pointed out how AI voice search platforms can apply across the restaurant and hospitality sector:

• Phone Orders – replacing costly call centres by routing phone orders through AI
• Restaurant Reservations – for example, Siri or Alexa, and even Alexa in hotel rooms
• Franchise Personalisation – tailoring AI voices to local markets (e.g. Queenstown’s tourist profile vs. a suburban local base)

These examples highlight the growing importance of semantic search - where AI systems don’t just match keywords, but understand the context and intent behind customer requests like “book me a gluten-free table for tonight.”

Why Stephen Brown Chose Vox AI

One of the standout points Stephen made was around latency. With most systems, there’s a delay of 8–10 seconds between customer and AI response, which kills confidence. Vox AI cracked this, bringing the response time down to milliseconds - creating a natural conversation flow that keeps customers engaged.

That’s why Stephen chose to partner with Vox AI - because their technology solved problems that others couldn’t, making them a strong choice for voice AI in hospitality.

How This Connects with The AI Marketing Club

Here’s where our two worlds meet.

• The AI Marketing Club helps tourism and hospitality businesses get found in AI Search - whether that’s voice search, image search, or visual search. That’s the front-end visibility piece.
• Once customers find you, Stephen’s expertise kicks in. His work is about the strategy and infrastructure behind voice AI: making sure the order can actually be taken, routed through to the kitchen, and fulfilled seamlessly.

In short: The AI Marketing Club helps you get discovered, and Awesome AI ensures your customers enjoy a smooth, fast, and profitable experience.

Final Thoughts & How to Connect with Stephen

As Stephen said in our conversation:

“Voice AI isn’t here to replace staff - it’s here to support human performance.”

Hospitality and restaurant businesses that start preparing now will be ahead of the curve as AI voice search and semantic search become the standard way people find and interact with food and hospitality.

If you’d like to explore Voice AI for your business, you can reach Stephen here in New Zealand through his company Awesome AI:

• 🌐 Website: stayawesome.ai 
• 📩 Contact: stayawesome.ai/contact-us 
• 🔗 LinkedIn: Stephen Brown 

And of course, if you’re ready to learn how to get found in AI search, voice, and visual, that’s exactly what we focus on inside The AI Marketing Club.