Will SoundHound's Restaurant AI Push Be Its Breakout Moment?

SoundHound AI SOUN may be on the cusp of a breakthrough, thanks to its aggressive expansion into restaurant voice AI solutions.

In first-quarter 2025, the company activated over 1,000 new restaurant locations, ten times the pace from slightly more than a year ago. With nearly 13,000 live restaurant locations now using voice-AI ordering solutions, SoundHound is quickly establishing itself as a leader in voice-driven commerce.

The surge was fueled by the integration of its Polaris foundation model and strategic acquisitions like SYNQ3 and Allset, enabling more intelligent and efficient order-taking across popular QSR brands including Five Guys, Firehouse Subs and Burger King UK.

This is not just about automation, SoundHound is redefining the restaurant experience. Its AI is already outperforming human agents in order value and call-handling efficiency, while also ensuring no customer inquiry goes unanswered. CEO Keyvan Mohajer highlighted that economic uncertainty may be accelerating adoption, as restaurants seek cost-effective ways to improve operations and grow revenues.

Crucially, the company’s efforts are not siloed. With its voice commerce initiative, SoundHound is building a connected ecosystem, linking restaurants, automakers and OEMs to allow consumers to place orders while driving. This hands-free convenience not only attracts restaurants but also large tech partners seeking to embed SoundHound’s voice AI into their platforms without the hassle of managing vendor relationships.

While challenges remain, especially around competitive pressure and integrating acquisitions, SoundHound’s early leadership in voice AI for restaurants could prove transformative. If momentum continues, this restaurant push may not just be another product line, it could be SoundHound’s defining moment.

Voice AI Rivals Turning Up the Heat

In the fast-evolving voice-AI space, SoundHound AI is not alone in targeting the restaurant and commerce sectors. Two notable competitors, Presto Automation PRST and Cerence Inc. CRNC, are also vying for dominance with differentiated approaches.

Presto Automation focuses squarely on the restaurant industry with AI-voice solutions tailored for drive-thrus and order-taking. Its systems are already deployed at major chains like Hardee’s and Checkers, making Presto Automation a direct threat in the QSR space. Presto Automation’s singular focus gives it speed and customization advantages. The company lacks the multi-industry scope of SoundHound.

Cerence, while best known for automotive voice assistants, is increasingly exploring voice-enabled services that blur the lines between car and commerce, similar to SoundHound’s vision. With long-standing OEM relationships, Cerence has an embedded base it could leverage to expand into restaurant integrations via in-car voice transactions.

SOUN’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

SoundHound’s shares have gained 25.6% in the past three months, outperforming the Zacks Computers - IT Services industry’s 3.4% growth.

Price Performance

In terms of its forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio, SOUN is trading at 25.29 compared with the industry’s 18.67.

P/S (F12M)

Over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for SOUN’s 2025 loss per share has remained unchanged at 16 cents. Nonetheless, the estimated figure indicates an improvement from the year-ago loss of $1.04 per share.
 

SOUN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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