Sweetgreen Aims for 10 Infinite Kitchens by Year's End

Aniai expands in Korea, Waymo heads for the highway, Portillo's kiosks

Ooh, two Ottomate updates in one day; this must be the start of a big week! In case you haven’t read it yet, Robomart Founder Ali Ahmed has contributed a thoughtful piece entitled “What Is A Robot?” Do read it, and then get on to the rest of the week’s big automation news.

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Sweetgreen Revenue Jumps 21% in Q2

Sweetgreen just posted a strong quarter, filling up on revenue growth of 21%, coming in at $184.6 million. Same store sales climbed 9%, while digital revenue percentage of sales sat at 56%, and owned (first party channels) digital rev fell a slightly to 31%. The market was bowled over as well, with shares jumping almost one third.

The LA-based chain is particularly optimistic about its Infinite Kitchens project, the robotic makeline that will power its busiest, delivery-oriented locations. The company’s first location saw $2.8 million in annual sales, and restaurant-level margins of 31.1% thanks to 45% lower turnover than its more human-centric locations. The company is on track to open seven new robotic locations this year, plus it plans to convert two or three existing stores to the new format. A recently opened Infinite Kitchen location in NYC produced 200 bowls in half an hour, with plans to scale towards 500 bowls/hour.

Aniai Installs 15 Robotic Grills in South Korea

Robotic kitchen startup Aniai just scored a big contract for its Alpha Grill, an automated hamburger patty cooker. South Korean giant Lotte Group is deploying 15 of the machines, which can cook up to 200 patties per hour. While headquartered in NYC, Aniai also maintains offices in Seoul.

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Portillo’s Pilots Kiosks

Portillo’s, a chain famous for serving old school Chicago-style fare like hotdogs and beef sandwiches, is getting with the times. The fast casual brand just announced it’s piloting the use of self-service kiosks, to speed up ordering, at multiple Chicagoland and California locations. The automated ordering machines are customized units that run on Bite’s hardware.

Waymo Heads for the Highway

AV taxi player Waymo is beginning testing of safety driver-free operations on San Francisco Bay Area freeways, five months after receiving CPUC approval to do so. This comes less than a week after Waymo announced it was expanding its service areas in Greater SF and LA, now clocking in at 55 and 79 square miles, respectively. Chinese competitor WeRide is also making moves, looking to launch a U.S. IPO at a $5.02 billion valuation.

Waymo

In Other News

Instacart brings Caper Carts, Carrot Tags to Aldi Süd markets. Soft Robotics pivots from grippers to AI-powered visual inspection of produce and SKUs. Ready Robotics shutters. What is a robot?