London-based Moley Robotics showcased the world’s first robotic kitchen at CES 2021. Orders are already in for the luxury kitchens replete with dexterous and hard-working robot arms. These high-tech appendages are configured to retrieve ingredients from a smart fridge, adjust stove-top temperatures, use the sink to fill pans, pour, mix, plate, and clean up.
While a commercial version of the Moley kitchen has been released, such cutting-edge robotics are out of reach for the average restaurateur. Thankfully, other types of restaurant automation are accessible for small businesses that want to enter the digital era.
Read on to learn more about how automation is making its mark in the restaurant industry and what you can do to add automation technology in your business.
It’s no secret. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants have been dealing with worker shortages, rising costs, and the need to find inventive ways to serve customers. As a result, the industry has turned to technology and restaurant automation to save on labor costs and to better serve their patrons.
Panera Bread, Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Chipotle are just some of the large brands leading the way with the latest innovations. Let’s take a look at some of the ways these companies are developing and using automation and new technologies to update their processes.
This fast-casual brand has automated its coffee and tea service to cope with the short supply of workers. The company already has a coffee and tea subscription program, which lets users access unlimited amounts of tea and coffee for $11.99 a month. To complement this, Panera started testing a new automated coffee brewing system created by Miso Robotics in 2022.
Panera Bread has also started testing an automation feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The tech uses voice-ordering technology in the drive-thru, in hopes of speeding up the ordering process.
Through its loyalty program and advancements in providing a superior customer experience through automation, Panera hopes it will increase its sales and manage the labor shortage.
Starbucks is taking service to the next level by using AI to “radically personalize the customer experience" and its business model. Starbucks customers are already familiar with the mobile app that they can use to order ahead, and soon, thanks to AI, the drive-thru menu will present customers with even more personalized service.
Starbucks will offer suggestions for personalized choices based on a customer's preferences and factors like the weather and time of day. Is it going to be 28 degrees and windy? You might want to add hot chocolate to your order of banana nut bread.
Starbucks has also recently embraced a new slate of automations that will speed up the ordering process. This is in response to rising labor costs and heightened customer preferences for complicated cold drinks. The tech lets baristas accomplish the same amount of work in just a short fraction of the time it’d traditionally take.
A demonstration of the new tech saw two baristas lower the amount of time it took to make a mocha frappuccino with whipped cream from 87 seconds to just 35 seconds.
All of these automated systems aren’t going to do away with the human touch. Starbucks has maintained a strong commitment to providing friendly service.
You wouldn’t think McDonald’sdrive-thrus would need more automation technology. In 2018, the chain started upgrading 1,000 stores with kiosk and mobile ordering software. It was a proven labor- and resource-saving solution because McDonald’s restaurants in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom already offered kiosk services and mobile ordering.
McDonald's found that self-service kiosks make people feel more comfortable compared to traditional ordering systems since they can customize their food without feeling pressured or rushed. This comfort can lead to bigger orders.
Ten McDonald’sfast-food restaurants in Chicago are also testing automated drive-thru ordering using artificial intelligence software. According to Steve Easterbrook, McDonald's CEO, restaurants are increasingly leaning on technology and automation to improve the customer experience and help save on labor.
Advances in restaurant technology have enabled Chipotle to roll out a robotic tortilla chip maker affectionately nicknamed “Chippy.” While Chipotle is still in the beginning stages of testing “Chippy,” the company has high hopes for this Miso Robotics-created automation technology.
This isn’t the only trick Chipotle has up its sleeve. The fast-casual dining chain has also announced plans to use loyalty QR codes to help customers and delivery drivers find out important information about their order status, such as their estimated wait time.
This pilot program should help takeout customers and DoorDash drivers alike.
As you can see, large brands are exploring automation and new technology. Miso Robotics CEO, Mike Bell, expects that thousands of its partner restaurants will have their CookRight AI technology installed by the end of the year, and there will be hundreds of Flippy robots doing repetitive tasks. Bell told CNBC that “it’s a matter of when, not if, restaurants become automated.”
But what about smaller restaurants? At this point, robotics would likely be an expensive undertaking for most restaurateurs, and it may be years before the technology is accessible for smaller restaurant businesses.
However, you can still mitigate the ripple effects of supply chain issues and labor shortages with automated solutions like self-service kiosks, tabletop devices, and point-of-sale (POS) analytics.
If you’re struggling to staff your restaurant, you might want to consider automating with self-service kiosks. By letting customers place their own orders and pay via a tablet, you can let your staff focus on tasks that can’t be automated instead of spending time at the cash registers.
Self-service kiosks are an economical option. You can get started with minimal low-cost hardware — a tablet and Square Kiosk mounting hardware. Plus, depending on your restaurant’s business volume, you may be able to get kiosk software for as low as $41.66 a month.
In addition to being low-cost and overcoming worker shortages, self-service kiosks can help you keep lines short and provide better customer service.
Rather than a central area for ordering and paying, you may decide to automate the process within your restaurant’s dining room with tabletop devices. These devices are easily integrated with existing front-of-house food service infrastructure for restaurant automation. This hardware makes it easier for parties to order and pay, and it relieves staff of considerable work.
Some devices even have games to help customers pass the time while waiting for their food. Many systems allow groups to split checks, which also helps to improve the dining experience and reduce servers’ workloads.
A smart POS system can help business owners stay on top of inventory and rising costs. Using POS data, a restaurant owner knows what menu items are profitable and which ones are not, helping to optimize and refine a menu for maximum profitability.
By providing accurate purchasing data, analytical reports from the POS reveal how popular menu items are, food cost percentages, and product mix reports. It’s easy for restaurateurs to generate profitable menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and to analyze how each menu performs by time and day of the week.
POS analytics can also help you optimize staffing levels for every shift and measure staff performance. The analytics may provide metrics such as labor cost percentages and sales reports.
You may also integrate your analytics reports with online ordering systems to better understand how services, such as DoorDash impact your restaurant operations. Further integration can help with inventory management, which can help to keep costs down.
The restaurant and hospitality landscape is changing. Staying competitive in the industry requires continual investments in new technologies and digital innovations to provide quality and quick service. Consumers now expect enhanced customer experiences, and automation can help you meet this expectation.
Not all automated technology solutions need to include the latest robotics. There are many options that smaller businesses can integrate with their existing systems with minimal financial investment. Self-service kiosks, tabletop devices, and POS analytics are a great place to start if you want to reduce costs, improve customer service, and stay relevant in a competitive marketplace.
To get started with self-service kiosks in your restaurant, start a 30-day free trial of KioskBuddy today.