It’s our second of five consecutive days of food tech predictions for 2022. Yesterday we looked into our crystal ball to predict the future for restaurant tech in 2022 and today we’re looking at food robots.
So, how exactly will robotics change food in 2022?
Front of House Automation Will Shoulder More of the Load for Workers
If there’s an area of dine-in restaurants impacted most by COVID, it’s the front of house. High turnover, social distancing and masking requirements have all put significant stress on staff who interface with consumers.
The good news is there is a new class of food robots ready to lend a hand. In the second half of 2021, we saw both Denny’s and Chili’s begin rolling out front-of-house robots from Bear robotics. Others such as Keenon and Pudu are also building robot servers to handle the load of overburdened workers.
And then there are the fully automated robots making and dispensing food that are being utilized within the confines of an existing restaurant, whether that’s robot bartender with personalities like Cecelia or cookie-making bots in Alabama.
Whether it’s waiter-bots or fully automated task-managers, expect more robots to help shoulder the load in the front of house in 2022.
Restaurants-in-a-Box Start Rolling Out
Get ready for the restaurant in-a-box. There are a number of startups with robo-restaurant concepts already in fully operational pilot tests who are looking to expand with multiple self-contained robot restaurants in 2022.
Hyper-Robotics, which makes fully automated containerized robot pizza restaurants that can pump out up to 50 pies per hour, is beginning to roll out its pizza robot restaurants in Israel. Cala, a French startup that makes fully autonomous pasta-making robots, is already operating a robot in Paris’ fifth arrondissement district. Another startup called Mezli, which is currently running its containerized bowl-food restaurant in Kitchentown, has plans to eventually launch more locations.
These are just a few self-contained robo-restaurants and we expect to see many more rollout in 2022.
Age of the Food Robocorn
One could argue that – at least for a while – that Zume hit unicorn status as it hauled in wheelbarrows of Softbank cash for its robot meets pizza delivery concept. However, the company eventually hit troubled waters and has since pivoted to sustainable packaging.
Since that time, a new wave of food robot startups has launched, but – outside of the warehouse space – we’ve yet to see any of these startups reach the same rarified valuation. I expect that to change in 2022.
As more restaurant and food delivery businesses adopt robotics and automation, we should see which robot startups hit escape velocity. My guess is we’ll see the next food robo-corns in food delivery space and restaurant robotics.
Modularized Robots and the Food Automation Integrator
One of the biggest challenges for rolling out automation tech in high-volume restaurants is how to begin the process of integrating a new robot into a kitchen. Established restaurants have their workflows and processes, which means an operator can’t just drop a robot into a kitchen and expect to see instant results.
This is why companies like Picnic, Hyphen, Miso and others are creating modularized back-of-house robots to assist workers by taking over a portion of their existing food production workflow. Meanwhile, some operators like Sweetgreen are bringing robotics expertise in-house and are trialing ways to bring food to their customers.
Finally, not only do I expect to see more food robot startups offer up modular-build approaches tailored to operators with locked-in workflows, but I also expect 2022 will see the rise of the ‘food automation integrator.’
Robot Vending Everywhere
Why eat a stale bag of chips when you can have fresh food? That’s what many office workers, university students and travelers will start to wonder as they come upon highly automated fresh food vending machines. Companies like Yo-Kai, DoorDash (with Chowbotics), and Costa Coffee’s Baristabot (formerly Briggo) are already moving towards wider deployment, while others like Basil Street are looking at significant expansion in the coming year.
Bonus Prediction: The Robot Operator Will Be a Hot New Job Category
It may seem like a dream job for a virtual reality nut, but apparently, VR-piloted delivery bots are now a thing. Also now a thing: Hospitality training programs that give prospective hospitality managers experience with deploying robots.
While there is concern among some that robotics could eventually displace workers in many of these spaces, I expect that we’ll also see many food industry employees clamoring to take on robotics operator as part of their job description. We can expect more robot operator jobs to become in demand in 2022, as we see food robots exit the pilot stage and enter full daily operation across restaurants, food service, delivery, grocery, and other food adjacent venues.
That’s it for restaurant robots. Tune in tomorrow for our alt-protein predictions for 2022!
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