California burger chain gives customers points for paying with their faces

PASADENA, California -- AJ Rochow is ordering lunch without reaching for his wallet thanks to some new facial recognition technology.

"We're launching face pay in our self-ordering kiosk. You're actually paying with your face when you check out with your order," said Rochow, who works for Caliburger.

CaliBurger teamed up with NEC facial recognition company to pilot the program.

Yes, you can still order at the counter and pay with cash or credit card, but the face pay system is designed to attract loyal customers who want a safe, secure, speedy checkout process.

"It actually cuts off about 30 seconds to a minute of your traditional ordering time," said Rochow. That's because it already knows what you might be ordering.

Rochow said the technology might even help with health issues.

"I have really a bunch of allergy needs. I have a bunch of different health problems. The machine will read your face and recognize, 'Hey, these were your past three orders,'" said Rochow.

Also tied into the system is a reward program. Each order shows a running tally of points that help you get a discount on foods you want.

"Each dollar you spend is 'x' amount of Calipoints. Three thousand Calipoints is the equivalent of $3, so the customer has the option to use that for whatever he or she wants," said Rochow.

The Pasadena CaliBurger is the first of the chain's 40 stores to use face pay.