On this week’s Extra Serving, NRN editor in chief Sam Oches and executive editor Alicia Kelso discuss Chipotle’s investment in automated kitchen equipment, including the Autocado and Augmented Makeline. Autocado is a cobotic prototype developed alongside Vebu that cuts, cores, and peels avocados before team members mash them into guacamole, and it is now being tested in a Huntington Beach, Calif., restaurant. The Augmented Makeline is a cobotic makeline built in collaboration with Hyphen, and it is in test at a Corona del Mar, Calif., restaurant building bowls and salads.
Oches and Kelso discuss whether these tech investments will help Chipotle achieve its goal of 7,000 restaurants.
Plus, they discuss Olive Garden’s decision to finally use third-party delivery, which leads them into a conversation around the results of Intouch Insight’s Third-Party Delivery Study.
And senior editor Joanna Fantozzi joins for this week’s extra serving to discuss her insights from the FSTEC conference in Dallas.
