This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on June 9, 2022.
Foodservice automation in China has included projects such as Country Garden’s Qianxi robots and automated cooking equipment suppliers. This article looks instead at Miso Robotics, a U.S. company focused on robotic-arm automation for quick-service restaurant kitchens.
Founded in 2016, Miso Robotics develops and manufactures AI-enabled robots intended to improve back-of-house production efficiency. At the time of the source article, the company had raised a total of $79.3 million, about RMB 530 million.
In early 2022, Miso Robotics filed an S-1 for a new Series E fundraising round, targeting up to $40 million, about RMB 270 million, at a latest valuation of $500 million. According to the disclosed information cited in the article, it had raised $12.31 million toward that target.
Miso Robotics launched its first Flippy in March 2018 at a CaliBurger location. The initial use case was flipping burger patties on a grill.
After the pilot, CaliBurger signed an $11 million contract with Miso Robotics to deploy two Flippy units across more than 50 CaliBurger stores globally. In Q4 2019, CaliBurger introduced a version 2.0 store format with a redesigned kitchen using two Flippy units and one chef.
In 2020, Miso Robotics began testing an updated version of Flippy at a White Castle location. By Q4 2020, Miso Robotics and White Castle announced an expanded pilot, with a target of installing Flippy in 10 additional White Castle stores.
Also in Q4 2020, Miso Robotics launched its flagship Flippy 2 product. The system added AI vision for automatic food recognition, could move cooked food to a holding area, took up less kitchen space, and materially increased production capacity.
In October 2021, Miso Robotics introduced Flippy Wings, a dedicated automated fried-chicken-wing solution for restaurants. It was designed to identify food automatically, pick it up, place it into the fryer, and move it to a designated holding area. The company expected the system to improve food production speed by 20%.
In May 2021, Miso Robotics launched CookRight, a SaaS product that automatically identifies and tracks cooking products and tasks. It provides real-time operating metrics and analytics while continuously optimizing key cooking actions to support output consistency and food safety.
In June 2021, Miso Robotics developed Sippy, an automated beverage dispensing machine that can connect with a restaurant POS system. It was positioned as a way to improve staff efficiency and match orders with delivery-driver handoff workflows.
Del Taco, the Mexican fast-food chain with more than 600 stores, was working with Miso Robotics on a customized version of Sippy.
The source article notes that Sippy’s potential revenue was relatively low compared with Flippy, and that it was unlikely to become Miso Robotics’ core product line.
Flippy began with automated burger-patty cooking, then evolved toward frying different types of foods. The article also notes that future versions might help complete tasks such as cutting onions and other vegetables.
Miso Robotics’ original aim was to give robotic arms the “eyes and brain” needed for foodservice work, using real-time sensing and automated control to help restaurants cook food more efficiently.
At the time, its products were mainly built around North American quick-service chains, with use cases concentrated in fries, burgers, wings and beverages. The company had partnerships with 10 of the world’s 25 restaurant chains and was running dozens of pilots.
According to Miso Robotics’ own disclosures cited in the article, its core competitors included:
Miso Robotics had 91 full-time employees and one part-time employee. Among the full-time staff, 57 were engineers, 13 worked in operations, 8 in product development, 10 were executives or managers, and 3 were project managers.
As of the end of 2020, Miso Robotics’ revenue was close to $300,000. In the first half of 2021, revenue was zero and net loss was $6.27 million. As of June 30, 2021, cash and cash equivalents were $6.89 million. The source article argues that this tight cash position explains the urgency behind the SEC filing and fundraising effort.
The article compares Miso Robotics with several foodservice automation companies that ultimately changed direction or were acquired.
Spyce was acquired by Sweetgreen for $50 million, with the technology used to improve store operating efficiency and customer ordering experience. Zume shifted from pizza automation toward food packaging supply.
Chowbotics, founded in 2014, was acquired by DoorDash in February 2021 for $5 million. Its Sally vending-style system could customize salads, grain bowls and cereal-based meals according to user preferences in about one minute, producing 50 to 100 meals before restocking and supporting fully contactless advance ordering. Before the acquisition, Chowbotics had raised $21 million. The article notes that such technology could help DoorDash support restaurants in menu expansion, such as enabling pizza shops to add salads or salad shops to expand faster.
Costa Coffee, owned by Coca-Cola, acquired Briggo, an automated coffee-making and vending-machine company that had previously raised $19 million. Briggo machines operated around the clock without labor support and could make 100 cups of coffee per hour, while allowing customers to order in advance and reduce contact.
The source article concludes that whether restaurant automation companies can survive independently remains uncertain. Selling to a large group at the right time and at a reasonable price may also be a viable outcome.
Note: fundraising, valuation, pilot targets, expected performance improvements and IPO-related figures are historical as of the 2022 source article.