Via iStockphoto / @kuniquestyles TikTok
A North Carolina woman expressed her fear after the Bojangles AI drive-thru assistant's witchy voice spooked her.
With spooky season upon us, companies are fully embracing the Halloween spirit. And Bojangles is going all out. Earlier in the month, the fast-food chain transformed into Boojangles. It launched a fall menu, which includes a “Bite Box” of goodies, and turned select locations into haunted houses. Its storefronts weren’t the only thing to get a makeover. Its AI drive-thru attendant, Bo-Linda, also transformed into Boo-Linda for the season.
But not everyone is feeling the holiday spirit. North Carolina woman Kash (@kuniquestyles) was quite spooked upon pulling into the drive-thru.
“Would you like to try our new nine-piece Boo Bite?” a witchy automated voice asks her.
“No, a number 17,” she replies.
“Which fixin’?” the bot questions.
Once the content creator responds, the witch requests she select another fixin’, much to Kash’s frustration. “What in the world? Fries,” she answers, irritated.
When the assistant asks if she’d like to add more food, Kash keeps repeating “no.”
Finally, the attendant wraps it up. “Your total is $10.91. Boo-tiful choice,” the AI says, cackling. “See you at the window.”
However, the content creator is less than thrilled about this new Halloween feature. “What in the world? I don’t like that,” she remarks, driving up to the window.
She further condemns the AI voice in the caption, dubbing it as “very creepy and demonic.”
The voice, as many commenters pointed out, is reminiscent of the “Harry Potter” character Moaning Myrtle or “Lord Of The Rings'” Gollum, aka Sméagol.
Bojangles Halloween Voice: Who Is ‘Boo-Linda’?
Since 2024, Bojangles has started implementing its AI assistant, Bo-Linda, across its drive-thrus. It’s currently in 500 locations, with plans to expand into another 100. According to PressWire, it has a 98% success rate and is designed to upsell items without slowing down the speed of service.
In light of the season, Bo-Linda turned into Boo-Linda, a witch designed to serve up a side of scares, per Holy City Sinner.
Automated drive-thrus aren’t new. Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and Popeyes all have them in place, too, but they have received mixed reactions from consumers.
In a recent post on the r/fastfood subreddit, a Redditor said, “Yeah it sucks. It did the same cut off early thing after the first thing I said. Mine did have a person come over and ask if I was done but I was annoyed by the AI thing so I just said forget it and left.”
“Try having an accent or some kind or speech impediment. Better not have any questions or special requests either,” another commented.
“It’s been around for two years or more and I personally like it. I haven’t had any issues and you can tell the workers are focused on the food then vs order taking,” a third stated.
“I ran into one of these a few months back on a road trip and I was actually shocked at how well it worked,” a fourth said.
BroBible reached out to Kash via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to Bojangles via press email.