Podcast: Chef Eric Rivera on What Food Robot Startups Don't Understand About Restaurants
"That's not how a person in a restaurant works."
There are two things I know about Chef Eric Rivera. First is that he makes amazing food, if you have the chance to eat at his Addo restaurant here in Seattle, or catch him on tour next year — do so! The other thing I know about Chef Rivera is that he is not afraid to share his opinions on Twitter, especially about how restaurants are run.
I this week’s OttOmate podcast, I sit down with Chef Rivera to get his take on food robots on automation. This is a conversation I hope every food robot startup CEO listens to because Rivera has some really good points about what tech people miss when designing robots for restaurants. Restaurant workers, for example, are not mono-taskers, a line cook could be prepping, washing dishes or doing any number of jobs that need to be done that night.
We also talk about labor, running a restaurant post-pandemic and his plan to pack up like a little rock band to bring his restaurant experience to people across the country.