Chippy ’n’ guac... Visit any Chipotle today and there's a 100% chance your tortilla chips will be fried and seasoned with salt and lime by Chipotle workers. But starting next month the carne asada icon will add a robot to its chip-making operation.
- Meet "Chippy": The autonomous kitchen bot from Miso Robotics will make and season tortilla chips at a Chipotle location in Fountain Valley, California.
- Taste tested: Chipotle’s already tested Chippy's chef skills at its HQ’s innovation hub.
Hint of lime... lots of crunch. Fast-food joints around the US are still dealing with a crippling labor shortage. In May the restaurant industry still had 750K fewer jobs filled than prepandemic. Now the hard-hit sector is bringing in bots to fill the gap:
- Jack in the Box debuted fries-making robot "Flippy" (also from Miso Robotics) at a California location in July. White Castle and Buffalo Wild Wings are also testing Miso's robots.
- Chili's employed "Rita the Robot" to serve customers in 2020, and has expanded it to 51 locations.
- Panera is testing an AI drive-thru bot called “Tori.” McDonald's is also piloting automated drive-thrus.
It’s a fast-casual conundrum… for America’s nearly 200K fast-food spots and their ~5M employees. A 2021 report found that half of restaurant operators planned to use automation tech in the next few years. Companies may have to spend big in the short term, but could be rewarded with more efficient operations and fatter profit margins longer term. On the flip side, it could mean millions of jobs lost to bots. Plus: a third of customers don’t want to see a robot prep their food, one report said.