There are some meals that taste just too good while absolutely crushing in the ravishing department – looks good, tastes even better!
After having such a meal, you know immediately it has been prepared carefully; compliments to the chef for taking his time with preparing such a craft.
But, there’s just one tiny problem –– not all foods have the luxury of time so they can be prepared to perfection. With at least 2-3 mealtimes a day, and hundreds of consumers eagerly waiting for their turns, rushing through food prep is a necessity.
That’s exactly where automation in kitchens comes in; where speed, style, and (of course) taste are amazingly achievable!
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Automation In The Fast-Food Kitchens
Whether it’s the hustles of the rush hours, the rising labor costs, or wanting to free up your kitchen crew from the mundane tasks, there are quite a few automations in the kitchen. A lot of these have already made their way into the market.
We have examples for you in the fast-food industries ahead, but let’s quickly look at what automations you can expect in a kitchen (no, these are not robots cooking your food or maybe they are 😉).
What Automation You Can Expect To See In A Fast-Food Kitchen?
a. Front Of The House
These include the self-service kiosks that allow customers to not only browse menus but also customize their orders and pay directly. There are also mobile ordering and payment systems that reduce the workload of the cashiers as well as your wait times.
b. Back Of The House
Fryers, grills, and microwaves come under the category of automated cooking equipment used in the back of the house. Flippy, a robotic arm, is also used to make your burgers (more on it ahead).
It can also include the conveyor belts; with a kitchen display system (KDS) you can also view your order through a digital display in the kitchen.
Top 03 Automation In The Fast-Food Restaurants Of The World
1. Sweetgreen’s Automated Kitchen – Up To 500 Salads Per Hour!
Sweetgreen introduced the Infinite Kitchen concept back in December which is its robotic take on salad and bowl assembly. With an impressive 50% more volume compared to the staff’s ability, the robot can prepare 400-500 bowls and plates every hour!
They claim half of Sweetgreen’s labor is involved in assembling food; Infinite Kitchen automates 70% of that half. This new Infinite Kitchen concept has also been driving them 10% more tickets, in other words, a greater customer spending.
2. Chipotle – Chips, Bowls, And Flippy aka “Chippy”
An employee with the ability to make 20-30 bowls an hour ends up making 180 bowls, thanks to intelligent automation at Chipotle.
About 65% of Chipotle’s digital orders are salads, so you can imagine the boosted productivity when such a big chunk of repetitive tasks are handled by robots. This leaves the employees to work on tacos, burritos, and tortillas.
As for the chips, Chipotle is using Chippy to fry chips which can be seen in the background of the next image. Chippy, previously known as flippy, was used to flip burgers but now it has evolved to its new purpose.
3. White Castle – Flippy Is Quite Popular!
Flippy is a big deal which you can imagine from White Castle’s announcement that they plan on installing it in 100 locations; 15 have been completed so far.
White Castle is one of the largest burger chains to adopt Flippy because it does literally all the frying for you! Starting with the French Fries (of course), Flippy also cooks your chicken rings, cheese sticks, onion rings, and more.
Let’s put it this way: if you can name it, Flippy will fry it!
The Future Of Fast Food
Frying, Burger Flipping, Bowl-ing (not the one at the bowling alley), the robots are handling them and then doing some more. Well, while the future of fast food is not going to be entirely staffed by robots, you can expect to see much more into automation.