Appetronix & Donatos Pizza Partner, Foodtech Valuations Steady
Appetronix & Donatos Pizza Partner, Foodtech Valuations Steady
Arrive hauls in $1.3M, Del Taco's drive-thru AI
From pizza robots, to drive-thru voice boxes, it’s another big week for restaurant automation. And best of all - the market seems to appreciate that sentiment - new data shows restaurant tech stocks holding up well. Read on for more.
Appetronix & Donatos Launch Autonomous Pizza Concept
Appetronix (formerly SJW Robotics) announced an exclusive partnership with Donatos Pizza, Agápe Automation, and the Grote Company to introduce a fully-autonomous pizza vending machine, marking a significant step towards the development of a standalone, fully autonomous restaurant. The first unit will be installed in Columbus, Ohio, the hometown of Donatos. The partnership aims to combine state-of-the-art robotics and data science technologies to create a seamless dining experience for customers, from the moment they place their orders to the point they receive their pizza.
Agápe Automation and the Grote Company will co-develop the autonomous pizzeria with Appetronix, with the latter company bringing its experience from installing a number of wok vending machines across Canada. “With 50 years of expertise in food automation and 60 years of making and serving the very best pizza, our family is eager to partner with Appetronix to deliver the world’s first commercialized, fully automated restaurant that makes fresh, high quality pizza.” said Jim Grote, Founder of Donatos Pizza, the Grote Company and Agápe Automation.
Public Foodtech Valuations Hold Steady
New data from PitchBook tracks the performance of foodtech stocks in Q2, and finds that overall they match the market as a whole. Micro-cap company JustKitchens has proposed going private, so don’t be distracted by its seemingly large revenue growth, it only does a few million in sales. The true recent strong performers look to be Toast, LG and Siemens.
Arrives Raises $1.3 Million from Crowdfunding
Arrive (formerly Dronedek, we recently covered the company’s rebranding) raised $1.3 million in its latest crowdfunding campaign, which brought in a total of 428 investors. The startup has now raised a total of $9 million from 5,000 investors, as it looks to commercialize its intelligent mailboxes for drone deliveries.
Del Taco and Carl’s Jr Turn to Drive-thru AI
AI for restaurant drive-thrus looks to be taking off. 300 locations, including many under the Carl’s Jr and Del Taco flags, are now using Presto Automation’s “Voice” software for ordering, reducing human labor needs by approximately 70%. Wendy’s recently announced it was using a competitive offering.
In Other News
Andrew Simmons shares how to run a robotic pizzeria. MIT developing a motion and task planning system for robotics. Job cuts down 49% MoM.