First it was ghost kitchens, then a robot bartender, now it’s a robot fry cook! Following the success of a successful pilot program last year, White Castle announced plans to expand their partnership with Miso Robotics by installing Flippy 2 across 100 locations. Flippy 2 is the second generation of a fully automatic fry station and can perform twice as many food preparation tasks as its predecessor, including basket filling, emptying and returning.
The Flippy 2’s purpose is to alleviate labor-intensive, physically demanding back of house positions, creating a better working environment for human co-workers, and boosting kitchen efficiency. It’s an impressive system, featuring proprietary AutoBin technology – each bin can hold as much as a full fry basket, and be customized for a kitchen’s specific needs. It can also be delineated for individual products, to prevent cross-contamination.
The Flippy 2’s AI vision can identify food, pick it up, cook it correctly and even place it in a hot holding area, all without the need of human intervention. It can accurately fry roughly 60 baskets of food an hour, which is more than enough for a high-volume quick service restaurant (QSR).
“Since Flippy’s inception, our goal has always been to provide a customizable solution that can function harmoniously with any kitchen and without disruption,” says Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics. “Flippy 2 has more than 120 configurations built into its technology and is the only robotic fry station currently being produced at scale.”
“Our partnership with Miso continues to lead the way on what’s next for back of house restaurant operations looking to empower team members with technology to better satisfy customers,” said Jeff Carper, Chief Operating Officer at White Castle.
Miso Robotics has other pilot agreements with leading national brands in place, including Inspire brands. Buffalo Wild Wings, part of Inspire Brands, began testing on Flippy Wings – the only robotic chicken wing frying solution designed specifically for high volume restaurants. Flippy Wings has been shown to increase food production by 10-20%, and allows brands to deliver a consistent product time and time again.
Both Flippy Wings and Flippy 2 can be easily assembled in a kitchen, and customized to suit the needs of each specific kitchen. Though it’s worth noting that automated facilities don’t necessarily equate to less labor cost. At least the robots won’t take any time off!
"Technology is making a fundamental impact on the end-to-end restaurant operational model," said Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire Brands. "Intelligent automation including AI and robotics will not only transform how we communicate with and take orders from our guests but also how we prepare and serve food to those guests. This transformation will ultimately result in improved efficiencies in our restaurants and an overall elevated experience for our guests and our team members."
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