About two years ago someone pitched me on a hologram cashier. An actual hologram, standing where a person stands, taking your order.
I remember thinking it was a long way off. And then I watched what AI has done in the last two years, and I don't think it's a long way off at all. Whatever I was shown then is either already built or nearly there.
In one year versus three versus five, it's not long off. This industry has had SO much change already that predicting how AI will impact it is somewhat of a coin toss.
But I wonder. Hologram cashiers. Robot baristas. Robots rolling between tables clearing them. Gosh knows what else.
Some of it already exists. Sweetgreen has a conveyor belt dropping salad ingredients into bowls. CaliExpress in Pasadena opened as the first restaurant where both the ordering and every single cooking process are automated, using a grill robot and a fryer robot called Flippy that can turn out 250 pounds of fries an hour and never needs a day off. BurgerBots in Los Gatos builds and serves a burger in 27 seconds with two robotic arms.
I've looked at some of this myself. I was shown a robot that makes lattes, and you can't really implement these things into an existing space, the space has to be built around it. AND, you can't have customization. So for us, even if the tech was "there," it's not an option. It's for a three to five drink menu, no customization, basic.
Three years ago we looked at cleaning robots and the problem wasn't the robot, it was our building. They need level floors, clean margins on both sides, no seams, no awkward corners. Which means you don't put a robot into a restaurant. You build a restaurant around the robot.
So here's what I think actually happens, and I think it's three things at once.
1. Some restaurants go all the way in. Technology at the center, built around it from the floor up, and that becomes the experience they sell. Conveyor belt sushi already does this and people love it.
2. Some stay exactly as they are. Independent, mom and pop, precious and human, and that will be the whole point of them.
3. And then there's the middle, which is where I think most of us land. You automate the back end so you can be competitive. It is more profitable. And you put more humans, not fewer, on the food and the guest experience.
BurgerBots is already doing a version of this. Robots assemble the burger, humans do the tables and the talking.
Here's where I sit.
I don't see how a scratch kitchen gets made by a robot. I don't see how 3D food printing can be done for us. And ChatGPT or Claude certainly can't produce food or test a recipe even if it can provide ideas. And it certainly can't create an emotional experience with a table of nourishment.
But...restaurant technology is archaic. And that's an understatement. I'm working feverishly in the background to create workflows and automation to significantly reduce the friction for my team. We are starting with just behind the scenes things and educating our team members how to access new ways of getting information. It's a journey but one I feel positive about. My operations assistant has automated about 3 hours of expense admin work, we saved about 10k on a meal plan website using AI, and we have been able to build a macro counter that is WAY better than the "next best technology" out there for our menu. And so much more.
I took an AI course this year and it changed how I see where it can add value, and where it can't. I had zero AI skills before it. But mostly what it showed me was how I can operationalize AI so as an owner I have more freedom. The company I did the course with is hosting a boot camp, which is currently $47 and tonight at midnight it increases, and it is truly an excellent class. I encourage you to attend the boot camp. You'll get some skills from that alone.
Now, the part I keep turning over.
Generally, the way I see the emotional outlook for restaurants is that maybe dining out will become something we crave so much BEcause we crave to be around other humans.
Right now, in today's world, it's easy for us to get frustrated by broadly smaller things in life. That does not mean that I condone orders being wrong, but what I'm saying is: if a ticket gets rung in wrong, and the carrots are in a dish when they were asked to be removed, or the soup is cold (of course, we all know it should be warm), or the store or the delivery driver forgets the drink, instead of telling someone at the restaurant, people will often go to Google. Google isn't a human and can't change the experience. But the humans in the restaurant could have.
I'm certainly not saying cold soup is fine, or a mistake on an order. Every restaurant wants every dish to be right, but...these ARE mistakes. By HUMANS. Not by AI machines. The lack of patience or grace for a human's mistake in today's world is limited, but in tomorrow's, where AI takes over and human intervention is far less, I wonder if things like that will bother us as much. I wonder if the mistake of spilling water on a guest will almost make us smile BEcause we will crave the human interaction and the lack of perfection so much.
I even wonder if the lack of "perfectionism" with our partners, friends, business colleagues, will suddenly seem silly BEcause we will be sooooo grateful for the human experience. We will maybe see imperfections as SO perfect.
I wonder if walking into a restaurant in a few years will feel like a novelty. Nostalgic. Like "OMGosh, people are going to make my food today!!!"
I don't have the answers. I'm just paying attention.
And whatever else changes, I know what I'm building. A place where people sit across from each other and eat something a human made with their hands. That was the point nine years ago and it's still the point.
BE Well, Jen xxx
P.S. Full transparency, the boot camp link above is my affiliate link, so I earn a small commission if you sign up. I'm telling you BEcause I'd want to know AND I wouldn't BEcome an affiliate if the class wasn't valuable to me.
