The Most Interesting Technology Developments at NRA

Industry vet heads to National Restaurant Association Show

When returning to a show like the National Restaurant Association Show this past May, I like to do my best Columbo and ask myself three questions:

1. What was there now that wasn’t there before?

2. What’s there before that isn’t there now?

3. What’s been moved?

To be honest a lot looked pretty similar, which can also be pretty telling. Those companies that spent thousands of dollars for the same booth showing the same equipment are really just there because they have to be and not to show off how they’re innovating. There were, however, a good number of new trends in the hardware development scene and the biggest one was in the shift in what is being automated.

Goodbye Robotic Barista, Hello Robotic Chef

There were no robot beverage kiosks this year. None. Even Richtech moved their robot from a trailer to a 4-foot counter. This was incredibly surprising as there were numerous ones last year and seemed to be a trend. It appears the death of the robot kiosk a la Cafe X and others may be upon us. What we’re seeing is a split into smaller formats with higher quality ingredients like Costa Coffee or Botrista, or robots behind a bar like Artly or Richtech. The robot in a glass box is no more.

Photo by Darian Ahler

Conversely, there were five companies showing off variations of an autowok. These machines would dispense ingredients into a heated pot, that would then tilt on a 45 degree angle, rotating and mixing the ingredients with a built in fin, not dissimilar to a cement mixer. These “robotic chefs'' were all over the show floor, and it is no surprise why. With a small footprint and flexibility to make all types of bowl-based cuisines, this is a great way for asian restaurants, poke shops and health-focused QSRs that serve primarily in bowls to be able to cook autonomously. We’ve already seen some headway in this space with the work that Sweetgreen, Hyphen and Cibotica have done in bowl-based cuisines, but there is still room for auto-woks to build on this momentum from the more brand name tech companies. It is important to point out there is probably another reason that we’re seeing growth here: the frybots landscape is already crowded and the competition is fierce.

Out of the Wok and into the Fryer

Photo by Darian Ahler