Robotic Restaurant News
We just got back from NRF and robotic restaurant stuff was all over the show floor. Robotic pizza for example. One of our favorite aspects of AI is overhead cameras in the kitchen to monitor food preparation. Also table usage. Here is our wrap on recent robotic restaurant news
- See our NRF 2024 review and writeup. The show was terrific. Check out our photo gallery. The line at the pizza ordering kiosk to order the robotic pizza was very long.
- From Tim Tang — “The most impressive thing that I saw at NRF 2024 for restaurants was the bartaco dine-in restaurant experience with Amazon Pay and OneDine. This initiative demonstrated an intimate understanding and sensitivity to the guest experience while creatively solving a common industry tech debt challenge of legacy POS through an innovative collaboration with market leading technologies. With rising operational costs, an ongoing labor shortage and shrinking customer wallet, the restaurant industry will need this type of thoughtful operational execution to thrive.”
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Craig K — Robotics were something to see though the details are still being worked out (food source, etc). On the kiosk side it was good to see Samsung kiosks adding accessibility finally. POS and mobile POS for employees and customers was EVERYWHERE. Payment systems as well. AI was overblown and almost trite. theroboburger.com
- Recommended – Angela Diffly on Hospitality Technology wrapup. We contributed images and content.
- Adam your robotic bartender — A dozen Adam robots have been deployed nationwide so far, in venues such as the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Los Angeles, the Cloutea boba shop at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and the Botbar Coffee chain. Adam also gets rented out for parties and conferences.A complete Adam with a custom setup table and equipment sells for $180,000, though Casella says they’re experimenting with other pricing models and partnerships.
- How Restaurants Are Embracing Robots — All the big chain restaurants are testing and installing AI-infused robotics — mainly in the back of the house, but also in customer-facing roles, both tableside and at the drive-thru. We tend to think a lot of testing is going on, but that is about it.
- Aniai is bringing a burger-cooking robot to restaurants with $12M — Aniai, a startup that has built a burger-grilling robot, Alpha Grill, said today it has raised $12 million, bringing its total raise to $15 million. The money will go toward launching its first manufacturing facility, Factory One, in South Korea. The firm will also be deploying a cloud-based AI software platform for the robot called Alpha Cloud. Robot adoption in the restaurant business is becoming popular as it can help restaurants address their high pain points like labor shortages, and rising wage issues. Robotics enables restaurants to save 30% to 70% of labor costs, and restaurants could replace more than 80% of restaurant positions with robots, according to a research report.
Statistics for Restaurant Robotics and AI Robotics
- According to a forecast by restaurant consultancy Aaron Allen & Associates, up to 82% of restaurant positions could, to some extent, be replaced by robots1.
- Automation could save U.S. fast-food restaurants more than $12 billion in annual wages1.
- As many as 50% of U.S. restaurant operators plan to deploy automation technology in the next 2–3 years to help fill labor gaps2.
- The global robot industry is projected to double in size over the next seven years, reaching $21.42 billion by 202734.
Robotic Restaurant Examples
there are some good examples of robotics being used by restaurants. Here are a few:
- Creator: A restaurant in San Francisco that uses a robot to make custom burgers from scratch. The robot grinds beef, fries patties, toasts buns, dispenses condiments and assembles burgers1.
- Wilkinson Baking Company: A company that developed the BreadBot, a machine that can make fresh bread on site for grocery stores. The BreadBot blends, prepares and cooks the dough using a mix of dry ingredients2.
- Miso Robotics: A company that designs robots to automate kitchen operations. One of its products is Flippy 2, a robot that can make fried food by recognizing the type of food and cooking it correctly3.
- Richtech Robotics: A company that developed ADAM, a robotic system with multi-jointed arms that can make coffee drinks and cocktails. The robot can reach for, pour and stir ingredients with precise movements4.
