Freebirds World Burrito’s headquarters is located in a 300,000-square-foot office complex in Austin, Texas. Every day, CEO Alex Eagle observes people having lunch delivered to the building, one driver and one bag at a time.
“It’s clear that there’s consumer demand for that experience,” he said. “But it’s very inefficient, economically and environmentally.”
But what if those meals could be produced closer to the customer—like in the lobby? Freebirds will attempt to find out when it launches a test of stand-alone burrito bowl machines next year. The chain is working with robotics company Now Cuisine to put automated “Takeout Stations” in places like airports, college campuses and offices like Freebirds HQ.
“It isn’t that hard to imagine that a vending unit in this complex would see the type of volume necessary to make it viable as well as make it a better experience for the guest,” Eagle said.
Americans can expect to see lots more of these machines popping up in public spaces over the next few years. Jamba is testing smoothie kiosks in retail stores, while pizza company Basil Street could have 200 machines in airports over the next year and a half. 800 Degrees Pizza, meanwhile, plans to open up to 3,600 automated locations over the next five years with robotics company Piestro.
One of the driving forces behind the trend is consumers’ ongoing demand for convenience—a demand that, as Eagle pointed out, has its costs. (Look no further than the tug-of-war over third-party delivery fees for evidence.) A network of vending units placed close to hungry customers could help make convenience more affordable.
“I think that is validated by DoorDash acquiring (salad-making robot) Chowbotics,” he said. “There’s a reason that the delivery guys are looking at this as well.”
The unmanned, round-the-clock outlets also allow restaurants to sidestep some of the labor challenges currently plaguing the industry.
Freebirds will start its robot pilot next year in Texas, where all 55 of its brick-and-mortar restaurants are located. Prices at the Takeout Stations will match those in its restaurants, where burritos range from $7 to $12.
Eagle declined to share the cost of the machines or the sales Freebirds expects them to generate, but said, “We certainly entered into this relationship with the idea that it will be a mutually profitable relationship.”
Freebirds' Takeout Stations will be able to serve burrito bowls 24/7. / Photograph courtesy of Freebirds World Burrito
The impending explosion of robotic food kiosks is also a factor of the technology itself, which has come a long way.
“At first we were very reluctant because ‘vending machine’ pizza has been out there for quite some time, and basically it’s just a frozen product,” said 800 Degrees CEO Tommy Lee.
That approach wouldn’t jive with the chain’s reputation for high-quality Neapolitan-style pies. But once Lee and his team had a chance to see a Piestro kiosk in action, they were won over by the final product.
“This is not just load frozen pizzas into the back,” he said. “This is a ready-made, fresh-food pizza that has a lot of technology attached to it as well.”
800 Degrees did have to make some concessions to the high-tech format, because the wood-fired pizzas it serves in its restaurants wouldn’t be possible with the robot. So the company developed a new, thinner crust for the Piestro units.
Freebirds was similarly impressed by Now Cuisine’s technology—particularly its attention to food safety and ability to produce bowls made with both hot and cold ingredients.
“The approach that Now Cuisine has is unique, and that uniqueness protects ingredient safety and quality in a way that I haven’t seen in the market in this space yet,” Eagle said.
Freebirds, too, will adapt its menu slightly for the machines, limiting the number of ingredients to its most popular SKUs, the CEO said.
The technology can also be a draw for customers, as Jamba has learned from its two automated smoothie kiosks in California. The machines made by Blendid have a robotic arm that prepares drinks in full view of patrons.
“Robots in the food industry are still so new,” said Jamba President Geoff Henry in an email. “We’ve found guests love watching them prepare and serve a smoothie right in front of their eyes.”
Jamba's Blendid machines can make up to nine smoothies at once. / Photograph courtesy of Jamba and Blendid
One of the most attractive aspects of the machines is that they open up a whole new set of real estate options for restaurants. In addition to airports and colleges, office buildings, factories, hospitals, malls and gyms are all viewed as potential sites. Future versions of the Piestro machine could be weatherproof or even solar powered, Lee said, expanding the possibilities even further.
“You could drop it on the beach every 500 yards,” he said. “We haven’t thought of a place where you couldn’t put it.”
800 Degrees’ machines won’t be out in public until next spring at the earliest, but the company is already getting inquiries from people who want one in their business. Once they hit the street, “We’re gonna get inundated with requests for boxes,” Lee said.
Piestro's machines can make a pizza in three minutes and hold enough ingredients for 80 pizzas. / Photograph courtesy of Piestro
Of course, wherever a robot ends up, it’ll need to have a parent restaurant nearby to keep it stocked and maintained. Freebirds will prep ingredients for the machines in its brick-and-mortar restaurants or commissaries. 800 Degrees will also take a hub-and-spoke approach, with new small-format stores serving as replenishment centers for the machines.
The capacity of each robot is “significant,” Lee said. “If we have to replenish it more than once a day, that would be a great problem to have.”
The initiative is part of a massive scale-up for Southern California-based 800 Degrees, which currently has just 15 units. In addition to the thousands of robotic kiosks, it’s also opening 500 ghost kitchens with Reef along with the aforementioned small-format stores, which will be between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet and focused on off-premise.
Lee would not reveal the company’s expectations for sales from the Piestro machines. But he believes their growth trajectory over the next five years is just the beginning.
“3,600 is just the first inning,” he said.