A White Castle team member next to Flippy of Miso Robotics.
Courtesy: Miso Robotics
Chipotle Mexican Grill Testing whether a robot can make tortilla chips in stores. sweet green Automated salad dressing is planned for at least two locations. And starbucks The company wants its coffee makers to reduce the workload of baristas.
This year saw a flurry of automation announcements in the restaurant industry, as operators struggled to find solutions to shrinking workforces and rising salaries. But efforts so far have been spotty, and experts say it will take years for the robots to pay for companies or replace workers.
“I think there’s a lot of experimentation that’s going to get us there at some point, but we’re still a very labor-intensive, labor-driven industry,” said David Henkes, a principal at Technomic, a restaurant research firm.
even before covid pandemic, restaurants were struggling to attract and retain workers. The global health crisis exacerbated the issue, as many furloughed workers left for other jobs and did not return. According to the National Restaurant Association, three-quarters of restaurant operators are facing a staffing shortage that prevents them from operating at full capacity.
Many restaurant operators raised wages to attract workers, but profits were under pressure at a time when food costs were also rising.
Automation startups present themselves as a solution. They say that robots could flip burgers and assemble pizzas more consistently than overworked employees, and that artificial intelligence could enable computers to more accurately take drive-thru orders.
year of the robot
Many of the industry’s buzziest automation announcements this year came from Miso Robotics, which has raised $108 million as of November and is valued at $523 million, according to PitchBook.
Miso’s flashiest invention is Flippy, a robot that can be programmed to flip burgers or make chicken wings and can be rented for around $3,000 a month.
Burger chain White Castle has installed Flippy in four of its restaurants and is committed to adding the technology to 100 as it revamps the locations. Chipotle is testing Mexican grill equipment what he calls “chippy” at a restaurant in California To make tortilla chips.
“The highest value advantage we bring to a restaurant is not to reduce their expenses, but to allow them to sell more and generate profit,” Miso CEO Mike Bell told CNBC.
At Buffalo Wild Wings, however, Flippy hasn’t moved out of the testing phase after more than a year. Parent company Inspire Brands, which is privately held and also owns Dunkin’, Arby’s and Sonic, said Miso is just one of the partners it has worked with to automate chicken wings.
Another startup, Picnic Works, offers pizza assembly equipment that automatically adds sauce, cheese and other toppings. A Domino’s franchisee is testing the technology at a location in Berlin.
Picnic rents its equipment with prices starting at $3,250 per month. CEO Clayton Wood told CNBC that the subscription makes the technology affordable for smaller operators. The startup has raised $13.8 million at a valuation of $58.8 million, according to PitchBook.
At Panera Bread, automation experiments include artificial intelligence software that can take drive-thru orders and a miso system Which checks the quantity and temperature of the coffee to improve the quality.
“Automation is a word, and a lot of people go straight to robotics and have a robot flip burgers or make fries. That’s not our focus,” said George Hanson, the chain’s chief digital officer
But success is far from guaranteed. In early 2020, Zoom stopped using robots to prepare, cook and deliver pizzas to focus on food packaging. The startup, which did not respond to a request for comment, received a $375 million investment from SoftBank in 2018, reportedly valuing it at $2.25 billion.
labor question
Automation has often faced pushback from workers and labor advocates, who see it as a way for employers to eliminate jobs. But restaurant companies are touting their experiments as a way to improve working conditions by eliminating tedious tasks.
Next year, Sweetgreen plans to open two locations that will automate the process of making salads on a large scale with the technology it acquired by purchasing startup Spice. Sweetgreen co-founder and chief concept officer Nick Jammett said at the Morgan Stanley Global Retail and Consumer Conference in early December that the new restaurant format would cut the number of workers needed for shifts.
Jammet listed an improved employee experience and lower turnover rates as secondary benefits. A representative for SweetGreen declined to comment for this story.
Casey Warman, an economics professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, expects the restaurant industry’s push for automation to permanently reduce its workforce.
“Once the machines are operational, there is no going back, especially if there are huge cost savings,” he said.
And Warman said Covid eased the pushback against automation, as consumers got used to self-checkout at grocery stores and mobile apps for ordering fast food.
Dina Zamke, an assistant professor at Ball State University who studies consumer attitudes about automation in restaurants, also said consumers are tired of shorter restaurant hours and slower service that have come with labor shortages. .
In a technology survey conducted in the third quarter, 22% of nearly 500 restaurant operators said they were investing in technology that would save on kitchen labor, and 19% said they had increased the efficiency of household tasks such as placing orders. Labor-saving technology has been added for
long term skepticism
At this point, it is unclear when or if any cost savings will occur.
more than a year and a half ago, McDonald’s Following the acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Apprente, it began testing software that could take drive-thru orders. Several months after disclosing the test, the fast-food giant sold the unit IBM As part of a strategic partnership to advance the technology.
According to a research report from BTIG analyst Peter Saleh this June, at about two dozen Illinois test restaurants, the accuracy of voice-ordering software was in the low range of 80%, well below the target of 95%.
McDonald’s crowds at self-service kiosks.
Jeffrey Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
And on this summer’s earnings call, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczynski poured cold water on the feasibility of total automation.
“The idea of robots and all that stuff, although it may be great for getting headlines, it’s not practical in the vast majority of restaurants,” he said. “The economics don’t pencil. … You won’t see this as a broad-based solution anytime soon.”
Meanwhile, less noticeable tasks may have more potential for automation. White Castle vice president Jamie Richardson said less flashy changes, such as installing Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, had a greater impact on sales.
“Sometimes an automation investment as big as the one we make isn’t earth-shaking,” Richardson said.