SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 23, 2025--
SoundHound AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice and conversational AI, and Red Lobster, the world’s largest and most-loved seafood restaurant company, today announced a partnership to roll out an AI-powered phone ordering agent that will revolutionize takeout ordering across all Red Lobster locations. The collaboration is designed to enhance the guest experience and provide valuable support to in-restaurant teams.
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Leveraging SoundHound’s advanced AI technology, Red Lobster can now ensure that every phone call across locations is answered, no matter how busy a restaurant gets. The system can handle multiple calls simultaneously, allows for seamless order placement, and provides instant answers to common guest questions about store hours, locations, menu items, and more. It is trained on Red Lobster's full menu, making ordering faster, easier, and more efficient for both guests and staff. Orders are sent directly to the restaurant’s point-of-sale system, reducing the workload for in-store staff.
This streamlined process allows Red Lobster employees to focus on what they do best: greeting guests, and ensuring they receive hot, delicious food with exceptional service.
"At Red Lobster, we are committed to providing the ultimate dining experience for our guests, whether they're dining in or ordering takeout or delivery,” said Larry Konecny, COO, Red Lobster. "With SoundHound's cutting-edge voice AI technology, we’re able to streamline the takeout process to make ordering faster and easier for our guests; including quick and seamless reordering for those who always want their favorites. And, for those who prefer speaking to a live agent, connecting directly with the restaurant is always an option. Ultimately, it’s about giving our guests a convenient, customized experience that fits their needs."
“SoundHound is seeing huge demand for our AI-powered voice ordering services, and we’re excited to be working with a renowned brand like Red Lobster to revolutionize the future of ordering,” said Ben Bellettini, SVP of Restaurant Sales, SoundHound AI.“Consumers have been quick to recognize the benefits of our quick and easy system, and employees are grateful for the extra breathing space it gives them to concentrate on delivering first rate customer service.”
SoundHound powers thousands of locations with its industry-leading voice and conversational AI technology. For more information about SoundHound AI’s restaurant solutions, visit: https://www.soundhound.com/voice-ai-solutions/restaurants/
About SoundHound AI
SoundHound AI (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice and conversational AI, delivers solutions that allow businesses to offer superior experiences to their customers. Built on proprietary technology, SoundHound’s voice AI delivers best-in-class speed and accuracy in numerous languages to product creators and service providers across retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, smart devices, and restaurants. The company’s various groundbreaking AI-driven products include Smart Answering, Smart Ordering, Dynamic Drive-Thru, and the Amelia Platform, which powers AI Agents for enterprise. In addition, SoundHound Chat AI, a powerful voice assistant with integrated Generative AI, and Autonomics, a category-leading operations platform that automates IT processes, have enabled SoundHound to power millions of products and services, and process billions of interactions each year for world class businesses.
About Red Lobster Seafood Co.
Red Lobster is the world's largest and most-loved seafood restaurant company, headquartered in Orlando, Fla. With a proud heritage, Red Lobster is focused on serving the highest quality, freshly prepared seafood that is traceable, sustainable, and responsibly sourced. To learn more about Red Lobster, including locations and menu options, please visit http://www.redlobster.com or find us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, or TikTok.
SoundHound AI and Red Lobster today announced a partnership to roll out an AI-powered phone ordering agent across all Red Lobster locations.
HAVANA (AP) — Officials in Cuba reported an islandwide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen and its power grid continues to crumble.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating, noting there were no failures in the units that were operating when the grid collapsed.
It was the third major blackout in Cuba over the past four months.
Tomás David Velázquez Felipe, a 61-year-old resident of Havana, said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island. “What little we have to eat spoils,” he said. “Our people are too old to keep suffering.”
By Monday evening, state-owned media reported that crews had restored power to 2% of Havana's residents, representing some 18,000 customers, as well as a handful of hospitals across the island. Officials said they would prioritize the communications sector next, all while warning that the small circuits restored so far could fail again.
Cuba’s aging grid has drastically eroded in recent years, leading to an increase in daily outages and islandwide blackouts. But the government also has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump also has raised the possibility of a "friendly takeover of Cuba."
On Monday, he said he believes he’ll have the “honor of taking Cuba.”
“I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I could do anything I want with it,” Trump said about Cuba, calling it a “very weakened nation.”
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba wrote on X on Monday that “there is no information on when power would be restored.”
“Cuba’s national electrical grid is increasingly unstable and prolonged scheduled and unscheduled power outages are a daily occurrence across the country,” it wrote. “Take precautions by conserving fuel, water, food, and mobile phone charge, and be prepared for significant disruption.”
William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years, said the country's energy grid hasn't been maintained properly and its infrastructure is “way past its normal useful life.”
“The technicians working on the grid are magicians to keep it running at all given the shape that it’s in," LeoGrande said.
LeoGrande said that if the island drastically reduces consumption and expands renewables, it can struggle along for a while without oil shipments. “But it would be constant misery for the general population, and eventually, the economy could collapse just completely and then you would have social chaos and probably mass migration,” he said.
To ramp up solar power even faster than Cuba did last year, LeoGrande said other countries, principally China, would have to be willing to double or more their provision of such equipment.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and that the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people.
Yaimisel Sánchez Peña, 48, said she was upset that the food she buys with money that her son in the U.S. sends keeps spoiling, adding that the outages also affect her 72-year-old mother: “Every day, she suffers."
Mercedes Velázquez, a 71-year-old Cuban resident, lamented yet another blackout. “We’re here waiting to see what happens,” she said, adding that she recently gave away part of a soup she made while it was still fresh so as not to throw it out. “Everything goes bad.”
A massive outage over a week ago affected the island’s west, leaving millions without power. Another major blackout affected western Cuba in early December.
Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then-president, Nicolás Maduro.
While Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been sufficient to meet demand as its electric grid continues to crumble.
“And on top of all that, the Cuban government doesn’t have the hard currency to import spare parts or upgrade the plant or grid itself. It’s just a perfect storm of collapse," LeoGrande said.
He noted that the thermoelectric plants also have been using heavy oil, whose sulfur content is corroding the equipment.
On Friday, Díaz-Canel confirmed that Cuba was holding talks with the U.S. government as the problems continue to deepen.
Coto reported from San José, Costa Rica. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed.
People walk outside during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A man walks outside during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People ride a bicycle during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A man rides a tricycle with his leashed dog running alongside him during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A man finishes putting fuel in his car's tank, located in the back of the car, during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People walk outside during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A man speaks with a person in a car during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People ride their bicycles along the Malecón during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line up in the street to buy bread in Havana, Cuba, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
