Ottomate: It's pretty hard out there for CapEx intensive hardware startups to raise venture funding these days. What was your pitch that convinced investors to keep backing your vision?

Michael Bridges: Our pitch highlighted Picnic’s proven impact on productivity and efficiency in the food service industry, emphasizing our customer-centric approach and tangible ROI. With over 3 billion pizzas sold annually in North America, we showcased the immense market opportunity for food automation, particularly within high-volume environments like stadiums, universities, big box retailers, and military bases. Further, our existing customer base and pilots offer a compelling path forward. Our technology addresses challenging labor problems and productivity challenges while reducing food waste, a strong story for investors looking to back innovations in robotics, food technology, and automation. Our recent $5 million round, led by Cercano Management with new and existing investors, is a testament to the confidence in our mission to redefine food production.

You raised $13.8 million back in late 2022; what milestones has the company hit since then?

Since our previous funding, we’ve fine-tuned our target market, adopted a new operating model and expanded our customer base to include high-profile venues such as the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and T-Mobile Park, and we've also started a pilot program with one of the world’s largest retailers. Additionally, our machines have been deployed at the U.S. Navy Kitsap base. We've made strides in product innovation, including the introduction of the PPS Michelangelo™, a more compact and cost-effective version of our flagship PPS Leonardo™. Kitchen space is often finite so having multiple sized products to choose from was critical to get in market.  These advancements allow us to meet the growing demand for scalable, efficient food production solutions across North America.

What are your plans for the new funding, how will you put the capital to work and how long do you expect it to last you?

The recent $5 million funding will be dedicated to scaling operations, ramping up production, and accelerating delivery capabilities to meet increased demand across North America. We’re also investing in expanding our support infrastructure to ensure high service levels for customers in diverse environments. We anticipate this capital will support our growth and production targets for the next 18-24 months and beyond, setting the stage for the next phase of Picnic's expansion.

How are Picnic's customers using your machines? Are you finding there are different applications for mom and pop restaurateurs, versus chains, versus foodservice?

Picnic's machines are versatile, serving a wide range of customers. We have customers using the machines for full prep/production in the morning, commissary style take and bake, real-time production, and the like. Artisanal pizzerias like MOTO Pizza appreciate our technology for maintaining consistency and quality while scaling production. High-volume customers, such as stadiums and commissaries, leverage our machines to increase productivity, optimize labor allocation and reduce food waste. Each customer segment benefits uniquely from our automation, whether it's streamlining operations, enhancing product consistency, or managing labor challenges.

Can you share anything about the product road map? Are there any interesting updates in the works?

Read more

Cibotica’s makeline puts the automation on the bottom, leaving human hands to work the top, while also leaving certain tasks (dressing, garnishes) to workers. The company envisions the automated system perhaps handling a salad bar’s online orders, while in-store customers get their bowls made the old fashioned way. The current verison can make approximately 120-150 bowls per hour, but future versions should be able to hit 250-300 (queue up scenes of Lucy in the chocolate factory…)

A few other important stats: the modular units holds 16 ingredients on the bottom and 24 on top, with movement powered by magnets. Cibotica touts that Remy results in 40% reduced labor needs and 50% reduced food waste. Each container use vibration to dispense ingredients, with up to 3 grams of accuracy. Grain-bowl fans fear not, warm ingredient modules are coming next year. More photos from the demonstration below.

New data from Crunchbase illustrates this trend, highlighting that 2022’s $9.8 billion in venture funding was a dramatic fall from 2021’s high of $17.4 billion. Zooming out to 2020, the news is less stark, as the first year of the pandemic saw a measly $6.3 billion of venture capital invested into the sector.

While Crunchbase notes that 2023 is off to a similarly cool start, this feels like a statistically misleading blip of data, given that the snapshot captures less than four weeks of funding news, during a time period where many an investor was more likely to be carving powder in Chamonix or Vail than dotting a signature line on a term sheet.

Fresh haul for SJW Robotics

Read more

OK. NOW we’re talking.

QSR giant Jack in the Box will pilot not one by two different restaurant robots from Miso Robotics, the two companies announced today. Jack in the Box will be testing out Flippy for working its fry station and Sippy for automating drive-thru drinks.

This, is a pretty big deal.

Read more

I was really trying to find a “Netflix and chill” style pun to kick off this story about the Luckibot Plus, but came up short. So I’ll settle for a more straightforward lede — Orionstar’s gone and added a mini-fridge to its autonomous Luckibot server robot.

“Alice S,” General Manager for North America and Europe at Orionstar Robotics, posted a picture of the robot on Linkedin yesterday writing:

Luckibot plus,with a cooler,is designed for advertising of drinks and fresh brands in restaurants and supermarkets.
Leveraging OrionStar whole chain technology,Luckibot has the ability of modular customization.
Now it is a real Transformer!

Listen, unless it makes that eeeerrr-arrrrr-arrr-orrrr sound as it twists into a bipedal autobot, it’s not a real transformer, but I digress.

Adding a cooler to the Luckibot actually makes a lot of sense for Orionstar, given that its Luckibot is already being used for roving in-store promotion for brands like Heineken. Rather than having drink…

Read more

The News

• Chipotle announced today that it was forming Cultivate Next, a new venture fund that will invest in “seed to Series B stage companies that can accelerate the Company's strategic priorities such as running great restaurants, amplifying technology and innovation, further advancing its Food With Integrity mission, and expanding access and convenience for consumers.”

• Cultivate Next will have an initial fund of $50 million, and will be financed solely by Chipotle.

• Chipotle is already dabbling in food robotics, having announced a pilot program to use Miso Robotics Flippy platform to make tortilla chips.

The Story

I’m sure Cultivate Next is filled with a bunch of smart folks who know what they are doing. But if they are looking for an unsolicited opinion, here are three companies I think make a lot of sense for Cultivate Next to invest in.

Read more

More server robots will be running around Chili’s restaurants. The restaurant chain announced last week that it’s expanding the use of Bear Robotics’ Servi robot to 51 more restaurants, up from ten stores as of October 2021.

Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) was first to report the story last Friday, said that Servis have been used for a number of different tasks at Chili’s including hosting, expediting food and carting off dirty dishes, and perhaps most important for any restaurant floor staff — Servi will sing happy birthday (so servers don’t have to).

NRN also got this nugget of information in a statement from Wade Allen, Brinker International Vice President of Innovation:

In recent polling in some of our 'Rita-fied' restaurants, 82% of guests felt their experience was better overall because of Rita, and 77% said their server spent more time with them due to Rita.

If these numbers are true, then it helps validate the theory that adding robots to a restaurant can actually improve the experience for just about everyone involved. Human staff don’t have to carry heavy trays around and can focus more on customer service (which should ideally boost sales).

I’ve written a lot lately about how server robots will be the tip of the spear when it comes to restaurant’s adopting automation. Server robots don’t require heavy installation and perform a truly helpful task in lugging trays of food and empty dishes around. And while I’ve previously honed in on how demand for these robots has been driven by smaller, more regional restaurants, Chili’s is showing that there will also be plenty of demand from larger, national chains as well. (Denny’s is also trialing Servi robots as well.)

Chili’s is certainly not afraid of robots. In addition to doubling down on server bots, Chili’s is also testing out the use of drones for food delivery and is piloting a program with Serve Robotics. Serve makes an autonomous sidewalk delivery robot, though we don’t know exactly how or where Chili’s will use Serve’s robots yet.

Share

Restaurant Dive has a story up this week about new survey data from Big Red Rooster that shows nearly a third of restaurant customers don’t want to see robots making their food. From that story:

Thirty-two percent of diners would prefer not to see robots prepare their food, according to Big Red Rooster research emailed to Restaurant Dive. Nearly 30% of restaurant customers would be skeptical if they viewed robots prepping meals or delivering food to tables. 

Should this survey concern restaurant operators looking to automate kitchen operations?

Nah.

Read more

The News

• Miso Robotics today introduced its new CookRight Coffee product line, which monitors key metrics like volume and temperature of urn-based coffee service. This not only alerts staff when coffee is getting old, it advises when to start brewing a fresh batch to anticipate customers demand.

• Panera is the first restaurant chain to evaluate and test the new CookRight Coffee platform. Greater availability begins early next year.

• The addition of coffee expands the Miso’s CookRight platform, which began as a hardware-lite way to guide the cooking of meats.

The Story

Who among us hasn’t pumped the lever of a tall coffee urn, only to be dispensed old, or even worse — tepid coffee.

Miso Robotics’ new CookRight Coffee product uses a combination of sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to eliminate this problem, ensuring better coffee quality and more optimized staff usage.

It’s a high-tech solution for a lo-fi mechanism, and considering the number restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, conference centers and airport lounges that serve coffee in urns — it could be a huge opportunity for Miso.

Read more

Raise a glass, today is National Beer Day (evidently)! And while it’s not an official holiday, it’s a good time to take a moment and look at the automated future of pint pouring.

Beer is actually the perfect beverage for robots (to dispense, not drink). Beer doesn’t require a complex mixology or fancy robotic motion. Loads of people stand in line for it, so the faster you pour it, the happier everyone is (and the more revenue you generate). And a robot can just sit there and churn out beers all day, freeing up human bartenders to do more customer service and make more complex drinks.

To celebrate National Beer Day, here is a list of beer pouring robots:

EBar

What is it? An automated beer vending machine capable of dispensing 300 beers per hour.
What makes it different? EBar offers “beer-as-a-service,” so the machines are mobile and moved around to different sporting and concert-type events.
Business model? Straight revenue share with the event venue.
Cost? No upfront cost, EBar takes a percentage of sales.
Where is it? Based in Aberdeen, England, but the machine travels all over the U.K.

Hop Robotics

What is it? Hop Robotics’ Walter robot uses an articulating arm to serve up pints of beer. The forthcoming update will allow it to serve 450 drinks per hour.
What makes it different? Walter is not a permanent installation, but rather is mobile and travels from event to event. Unlike other beer pouring robots, Walter uses special cups to dispense beer from the bottom up (check out the video above).
Business model? Company says it it still developing business model.
Where is it? Headquarterd in Greenville, South Carolina, Walter travels around the Southwest to different events.

Macco Robotics

What is it? Macco offers a number of robots including the KIME (Key-may) humanoid robotic bartender with two articulating arms, the single-armed beer cart as well as server robots for front of house at restaurants.
What makes it different? Macco’s ultimate goal is to make a robot chef and booze is the first step in that journey.
Business model? Undisclosed.
Where is it? Headquartered in Seville, Spain, the KIME has been trialed at Prio gas stations in Portugal.

Revolmatic

What is it? A countertop beer dispensing system capable of pouring 450 beers per hour. It can be used either with an integrated payment system — so people can buy their own drinks — or without to act as solely as a beer pouring mechanism.
What makes it different? Unlike other devices on this list, Revolmatic is a countertop machine and can be used in conjunction with a human operator.
Business model? The company offers different payment models (lease/buy), depending on the customer.
Cost? Depends. Price is based on configuration and options (volume machine purchase discounts available). Options include self payment, an extra screen for commercials, IoT, battery, and more.
Where is it? The company is headquarted in Krakow, Poland, with units currently operatin in Germany, UK, Czechia, Belgium, France, Holland, Croatia, Hungary, Ukraine/Russia, Israel, and Australia.

Share

As if Sodexo wasn’t busy enough with delivery robots, ramen vending machines and cashierless checkout, the company is now getting into pizza robots. Sodexo Live!, the division of the company that provides catering services to venues such as arenas and stadiums, is showcasing Picnic’s pizza robot at the upcoming college basketball championship tournament this weekend at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

Picnic makes a modular robot that sauces, cheeses and tops pizzas at a rate of 100, 12-inch pizzas per hour (pph). Because it’s modular, Picnic’s robot can be customized to add just about any number of toppings.

This isn’t Picnic’s first time assembling pies at a major sporting event. The company’s robot has also worked at T-Mobile’s baseball stadium making pizzas for Centerplate.

In a prepared statement in the press release, Steve Pangburn, CEO of Sodexo Live! North America said that Picnic’s pizza station will “will free our staff up to focus on other fan-facing tasks.” This, of course…

Read more

Listen, I swear I’m not turning OttOmate into newsletter all about automated ramen (though how rad would that be?). It just so happens robot-related ramen, specifically robot ramen in Japan has been in the news over the past month.

We kicked off March with a story on Nissan’s ramen-carrying car that dropped off order on a restaurant countertop. Then Yo-Kai launched its ramen vending machine at Haneda airport last week (then we learned a few more details about it). And over the weekend, SoraNews24 posted a story about a robot server at now running at the Hidakaya chain of ramen restaurants in Japan.

Server robots are nothing new at this point, but for a country with a greying population like Japan, we could be near a tipping point with food-related automation.

Read more

XRobotics has made an update to its Pizza Cube that allows the pizza topping robot assemble a large double pepperoni pizza in just 39 seconds. XRobotics’ VP of Sales, Alena Turner posted a video of the Cube in action.

Read more

The News

• The restaurant chain Chipotle announced today that it is testing out Chippy, a modified version of Miso Robotics’ Flippy, to make tortilla chips.

• Chippy is trained to cook Chipotle’s chips using the restaurants exact ingredients.

• Upon successful conclusion of the test, Chippy will be used at a Southern California Chipotle restaurant later this year.

• Chippy is the latest modificaiton Miso has made to its Flippy platform, following a specialized Wings version the company unveiled last year.

The Story

The story here is that Flippy is gaining traction as a fry cook for big, national level brands. In addition to Chipotle, Miso is also working with White Castle and Inspire Brands/Buffalo Wild Wings.

Chippy is also illustrating the flexibility of the Flippy platform, which was once used for grilling burgers, and is now frying up a variety of products for these QSRs.

Read more

The News

• Indian food delivery giant Zomato is acquiring a 16.66 percent in Indian restaurant kitchen automation company Mukunda Foods for $5 million. (Hat tip: New Delhi TV)

• Mukunda Foods is currently building out its Kitchen as a Service (KAAS) platform through a network of ghost kitchens around the world that will fit well into Zomato’s food delivery service.

• There is also synergy between Zomato’s Hypermarket service and Mukunda’s KAAS.

The Story

While this isn’t the hugest deal in the world, moneywise, the partnership between Zomato, a restaurant food delivery company, and Mukunda, which is building a network of automated ghost kitchens, makes a lot of sense.

Read more

The News

• Restaurant server startup Bear Robotics announced today that it has raised an $81 million Series B round of funding. New investor IMM led the round with Cleveland Avenue, LLC and other existing investors participating. This brings the total amount raised by Bear to $117 million.

• Bear has shipped 5,000 of its Servi server robots, which are now in use across four countries and 33 states in the U.S..

• Server robots will be the entry point for most restaurants into robotics because of the minimal amount of installation required.

The Story

Sure, $81 million is a lot of money, but the real story here is the opportunity ahead for Bear Robotics. And yes, Bear has deals in place with big chains like Chili’s, Compass Group, Denny’s, Marriott, and Pepsi.

But do a Google news search of “restaurant server robots” (go ahead, I’ll wait). The search results revel the much the bigger news story here.

Read more

Perhaps the best way to start this post about BRobot5’s paella robot is to go back to what I said about it a year ago, when I was still at The Spoon (emphasis mine):

We’ve covered plenty of robots that will make you all types of food such as pizza, burgers, tokoyaki and more in the development. But those are all examples of food that is meant to be cooked quickly in high-traffic areas. They can all pump out lots of food consistently around the clock. Br5’s paella bot helps illustrate how sophisticated cooking robots are getting. This arm is doing more than flipping burgers or dunking frozen fries, it’s coordinating a complex, multi-ingredient dish.

Since I wrote that piece, we’ve definitely see more robots coming out that can make increasingly complex foods. Dexai Robotics’ Alfred uses the same tools as a human chef to everything from searing steak to scooping ice cream. SJW Robotics makes complex bowls of food in its restaurant in-a-box. But perhaps most similar to the paella bot is THEO, which only makes one thing — a very complicated multi-layered baumkuchen cake.

So it’s no surprise that the paella bot re-surfaced this week at the HIP Hospitality Expo. The paella bot is actually the marriage of two different components: BRobot5’s robotic arm and Mimcook’s high-end precision burners built specifically for paella. Enric Cuadrada Quer, Project Manager at Mimcook posted a video of the robot in action on Linkedin with the following caption:

Yesterday we finished the fair #hip2022 having served more than 5000 servings of rice between BRobot5, GBfoods (Corporate Brand of Gallina Blanca) and Mimcook.
There we represent the tradition, evolution and future of the kitchen, where we are going, and the possibilities that change can generate.

While some purists (like David Chang, probably) might still scoff at the idea of automated paella, that’s okay. This robot isn’t meant to replace every restaurant that serves paella. But what this robot does do is make it possible for paella to be served in places it normally couldn’t. I don’t normally consider paella a meal I would eat on the go (like at an airport), but who knows, maybe if it was more widely available, more people would.

I think the thing to watch here is what other cuisines could sustain a unitasking robot like BRobot5 or THEO or the Mukunda Foods’ Biryani robot. The world’s a big place with plenty of specialties adored that could be automated so even more people could enjoy them more often.

The News

• Makr Shakr unveiled yesterday the Toni Compatto, its latest — and smallest — bartending robot.

• The Compatto (which means “compact” in Italian)(which you probably surmised on your own), features just one articulating arm, and can make both boozey and coffee drinks.

• The Compatto can make 50 drinks per hour, compared to the 80 drinks per hour the bigger, dual-armed Toni can make.

• Makr Shakr’s site also lists the “Toni Veloce,” a dual-armed robot built for speed (240 drinks per hour), another Makr Shakr ‘bot we hadn’t seen before.

Want to know the key players in the robot bartending space? Check out The OttOmate Market Guide to Robot Bartenders!

The Story

Makr Shakr is one of if not the original robot bartender companies, having been in the boozey ‘bot business since 2014. It’s got robots installed in Las Vegas, Milan, Amsterdam and Prague, and its bots have been at sea, working with many a cruise line over the years.

Yesterday, Makr Shakr mixed things up by unveling the new Toni Compatto via Linkedin post. With its smaller footprint and added coffee drink functionality, the new Compatto could help Makr Shakr breakr into more hospitality markets.

Read more

I’m not sure if this is a real product or not, but Nissan posted a YouTube video earlier this week showing off a ramen robot. No, it’s not a Yo-Kai Express competitor. This robot is a small, RC-car-looking device that drives around a restaurant countertop dropping off hot bowls of ramen to customers.

The li’l ramen-bot features Nissan’s e-4orce (← rad) dual motor technology that smooths acceleration and braking so hot broth doesn’t spill over the side of the bowl when the robot comes to a stop.

From a Google Translation of the Nissan e-4orce (←still rad) page:

"E-4 ORCE RAMEN Counter" is a new technology installed in Nissan ARIYA

A ramen counter inspired by "e-4ORCE".

e-4ORCE has powerful driving performance and twin motor four-wheel control technology.

Achieves stable and flat running and reduces back and forth shaking during deceleration.

Even at this ramen counter, with powerful running and flat deceleration,

We will deliver the ramen to your seat without spilling it.

While that technology is actually pretty useful for a lot of beverage carrying robots, again, I’m not sure if this is an actual product that restaurants can go out and lease/buy. It seems like it might have a very narrow use case. A restaurant would need a countertop that is wide enough to accomodate both a customer’s plate and a track that the robot could drive on. But! If your restuarant did meet those conditions—well, I would eat there for every meal.

I don’t know how much I should tie this in to the overall trend of server robot adoption we’re seeing. Robot servers from Bear Robotics, Pudu Technologies, and Orionstar are quickly finding homes at restaurants of all sizes. But those are for larger restaurants with individual tables.

Who knows? Maybe restaurants that use conveyor belts to send food around will retrofit those belts and turn them into racetracks.

Share