Physical Robots Are Not The Best Way To Optimize Restaurant Operations
Authored By: Matthew Dieden, Director of Product Marketing
A fully automatic robotic kitchen? Robot servers that are never late for work and don’t forget to upsell? Sign me up!
The sad news is, the technology’s not quite there yet. And the robots we do have are prohibitively expensive.
Automating your restaurant operation with AI is much more practical, not to mention cost-effective.
This article will show you:
- The path of least resistance in food tech
- The surprising power of machine-backed learning
- How implementing AI into your operations will save you money
Ready to stop pining for Optimus Prime in your kitchen and start growing your ROI? Keep reading.
Robots Are Here To Stay, But Don’t Invest Yet
HungerRush has been in the restaurant industry since 2003, and when it comes to the latest advances in robots, we’ve seen it all:
| Robot | Estimated Cost |
| Delivery Robots | $5,500 |
| Fully Automated Pizza Robots | Starting from $3,500 per month |
| Smoothie Robots | $100,000 + 20% of sales |
| Barista Bots | $25,000 |
| Bubble Tea Bots | $50,000 |
While they are all interesting and unique innovations, they may not always work as expected. Don’t believe us? Take a look at this TikTok compilation of delivery robot fails.
Watch: BEST Robot Delivery Fails Tik Tok Compilations
There’s a lot of talk in the restaurant industry about how robots will take over food service soon. But physical robots are not yet the best way to optimize restaurant operations—they are far too expensive, prone to failure, and require constant maintenance.
Advances in the coming decades will make today’s robots look dumb—so why invest now while the tech is rapidly evolving every year?
Be patient. Wait a decade or two for these latest innovations and the prices to stabilize. Then take a look at the physical robot situation, without rose-tinted glasses.
The Path Of Least Resistance // Discover The Path Of Least Resistance
In the image above, you’ll see a barrier designed to slow cyclists down. To the right is what we call a desire path, i.e., where the cyclists actually went. That’s because we like to follow the path of least resistance.
Advances in technology follow the path of least resistance. First, we get some granular changes, then great ideas follow in their wake. That’s because simpler ideas will yield a return on investment faster and more easily.
Cast your mind back to the advent of writing. Humanity started out with just stencils and clay, then developed woodblock printing, moveable type, and finally inkjet and advanced 3D printers that we see today.
The same goes for food tech.
Robots in food tech are not the path of least resistance. In addition to being expensive, experimental technologies, they require significant investment in kitchen or restaurant buildouts, because most restaurants are currently optimized for humans, not robots.
But if robots are not the path of least resistance in food tech, what is?
Three Reasons AI Is The Future Of Food Tech, Not Robots
Source: HungerRush
The path of least resistance in the restaurant industry is AI. There are so many manual processes ripe for disruption by AI tools that can work much more efficiently than us humans.
Here are some of them:
1. Sales Forecasting
Ordering the correct amount of ingredients is very hard to get right. Order too much and you have a lot of food waste—which hurts even more with rising inflation. Order too little and you’re leaving money on the table with missed orders.
One AI tool that solves this problem is Lineup AI. The program sifts through your sales data and cross-references it with external factors such as weather and any special local events. It then produces a sales forecast that allows you to order the perfect amount of ingredients.
This technology also helps optimize your labor. When you know how busy you’re going to be on each day of the week, you can schedule the right number of people for each shift—which means better service, happier guests, and of course, savings in labor (no more giving out overtime when it doesn’t make financial sense).
2. Personalized Marketing
Machine-learning-backed AI markets to your customers directly via SMS or email with custom offers built by analyzing order history and behavior. In other words: It knows if you’re vegan, it knows if you hate mushrooms, and it knows if you only ever order on a Wednesday night.
Our own customers have experienced a 29% increase in SMS orders with the help of our very own OrderAI—and at a price point much more reasonable than installing a robotic kitchen.
3. Phone And Text Ordering
One of the biggest changes AI has brought to restaurant tech is the complete revolution in phone and text ordering. Clunky chatbots are gone. Now customers can order and pay entirely by text or phone.
Smart AI voice bots:
- Very rarely make mistakes
- Learn natural human speech (slang, idioms, accents)
- Never forget to upsell—even if it’s a busy day and they’ve been working round the clock
Our OrderAI bots can sync with your RMS and collect important customer information that they use to personalize offers and upsells. For example, they won’t send you offers for chicken wings if you only ever order the salad.
Learn More: Meet OrderAI Talk: The Restaurant Industry’s Most Sophisticated Voice Ordering Phone Bot
OrderAI Is Food Tech’s Path Of Least Resistance // Join 3,000,000 Restaurateurs Leveraging The Power Of AI
You don’t have to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into physical robots to reap the benefits of the latest restaurant tech innovations.
Instead, follow the path of least resistance.
Over 3.0 million orders have been placed on our very own OrderAI.
OrderAI drives up revenue, improves labor efficiency, optimizes restaurant operations—and most importantly, doesn’t require you to take a hefty business loan to implement.
Ready to step into the future?
Get OrderAI Working For You, Today.
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