The functionality is called “chat commerce”.

KFC has announced that it will now be taking orders on WhatsApp across South Africa. It seems like this might mark a major shift away from food delivery apps like Mr. D and Uber Eats – both of which take a commission on every sale that goes through on their platforms.

WhatsApp’s new “chat commerce” capabilities have opened new doors for businesses and KFC is eager to hop on the wave immediately. 

“KFC’s platform is 100% automated and leverages natural language processing. The launch is… the first of its kind for the QSR sector locally,” a press release details. 

In the same press release, KFC explained that the system works with “guided prompts, emoji-embedded facilitation, and natural language processing to guide customers through the ordering process.”

Natural language processing refers to a very capable kind of machine learning algorithm that is able to interpret what users are telling them based on previous conversations. In essence, the system should be able to learn how to communicate with customers with each conversation (or order) it needs to handle.

To use the service, customers can add this number to their WhatsApp contact list: 087 153 1074. Simply send the bot “Hi” and prompts will appear that force the user to select their location and get into the rest of the ordering process.

Currently, this feature is only available for collection orders. The option to have your food delivered will be added later.

Payments are also not processed on WhatsApp. Instead, customers have to pay when picking up their order.

“While not yet available, consumers will soon also have the option to choose to pay via WhatsApp by inputting their card details but, for now, they pay at their selected store,” it details.