Kellogg’s Away From Home, a division of the CPG giant that works with foodservice operators, announced a joint pilot program with Chowbotics (now a division of DoorDash) that just debuted cereal dispensing robots at two universities. The aptly named Kellogg’s Bowl Bot will dispense a variety of Kellogg’s brand cereals as well as different milks, fruits, yogurts and more.
According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the Kellogg’s Bowl Bots are now available at Florida State University and the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison (which also uses Starship delivery robots!). The Kellogg’s Bowl Bot is basically a re-purposed and re-branded Chowbotics Sally robotic vending machine, which started out as a salad-making robot but has since expanded its capabilities to include other types of parfaits and bowl foods.
We’ve known about Chowbotics’ CPG ambitions since last year, when the company told us it wanted to partner with cereal companies specifically. At the time, the cereal bot use case was more about offering free samples at a grocery store, but branding and placing these machines at colleges makes a lot of sense. For one, colleges have long been a target location for Chowbotics. Prior to the pandemic, it had rolled out Sallys to a number of colleges and universities across the country. Second, the Kellogg’s Bowl Bot is perfect for our pandemic times since it doesn’t require human-to-human interaction and all of the ingredients are store inside closed containers that are themselves stored within the machine.
On top of all that, while my college days are long behind me, I assume cereal remains popular with this younger generation (when they aren’t eating avocado toast).
The Kellogg’s Bowl Bot has a special menu programmed for students that includes:
- About Last Night with Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Kellogg’s Froot Loops, Kellogg’s KraveTM Chocolate, chocolate drops, banana chips, and espresso syrup
- Hawaii 5-0 with Frosted Mini-Wheats, Bear Naked Fit Triple Berry Granola, pineapple, coconut, and mango
- Valentine’s Day Vibes with Special K Red Berries Cereal, cocoa nibs, blueberries, strawberries, and whole milk
Or students can create their own custom bowl mixing and matching cereals, milks, nuts, seeds, fruits and more. Prices start at $2.99 and go up to $6.50, depending on selection. Students can even use their campus meal plans to purchase their bowl.
For those interested in checking out the new Kellogg’s Bowl Bots, the one at FSU is located in 1851, an on-campus dining facility and convenience store, and the robot at UW-Madison is situated on Dejope Residence Hall’s main floor, outside The Bean & Creamery.
