With labor shortages seemingly having no end in sight, expect to see more retail and restaurant brands coming up with creative ways to offset this dilemma. Lately solutions have involved utilizing robotic technology in lieu of human employees to handle basic tasks. One example of this is the Piestro pod, developed by Wavemaker Labs — the parent company to Miso Robotics, which created the “Flippy” mechanical robotic arms that are already in use in restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings, White Castle and Chipotle. Piestro expects to be the robotic pizza-creating version of Flippy and is working with both Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and 800 Degrees Pizza for rapid growth of its technology in conjunction with the brands.
Piestro, whose founder also conceived of the Kitchen United ghost kitchen company, has already garnered 3,500+ investors and has secured $580M in pre-orders for its invention. The pizza-making technology consists of a 40-s.f. vending machine-like kiosk pod that can be programmed to create customizable pizzas from scratch in three minutes, incorporating the unique ingredients of a particular pizza restaurant. With robotic precision, the pizza can be baked, sliced, boxed and placed in smart lockers for remote pick up. The concept is expected to be especially attractive to the Generation Z and millennial audience.
In July, Capriotti’s announced its partnership with Piestro to install its robotic pods in potentially 100 of its restaurants, beginning with its Las Vegas unit that will act as a testing ground. The chain currently has 180 restaurants total. Capriotti’s is hopeful that the concept will help it expand its hours of operation to late-night orders without the need of extra employees on the clock. Capriotti’s has proven it is on board with robotic technology as all of the upcoming Wing Zone locations, a brand Capriotti’s purchased last year, will utilize the Flippy 2 automated frying mechanism.
Last year, 800 Degrees Pizza partnered with Piestro to open approximately 700 of the kiosk-pod units per year over the next five years, including in international markets, which will be branded as 800 Degrees Go by Piestro. This will include a mix of smaller footprint restaurants in the 1,500-s.f. range in addition to the standalone vending machine kiosk-pods, as well as 100 units per year over five years that will be in association with the ghost kitchen delivery service, REEF Technology. High foot-traffic airports, college campuses, apartment buildings, shopping malls, hospitals and office lobby areas are expected to be targeted for growth.
As the technology for automated food preparation kiosk mechanics keeps improving, anticipate the trend to accelerate beyond pizzas. This will be especially true if recession concerns, increased rent prices or even unforeseen lockdown issues arise, necessitating the need for even more of these quick, easy kiosk-like food options.
