Current:Home > InvestRestaurant chain Sweetgreen using robots to make salads -TradeWisdom
Restaurant chain Sweetgreen using robots to make salads
Johnathan Walker View
Date:2025-04-07 19:52:02
It turns out robots can make decent chefs.
Just ask salad chain Sweetgreen, which is testing automating some food preparation in order to speed up customer wait times and cut labor costs.
At a Sweetgreen "Infinite Kitchen" restaurant in Naperville, Illinois, a proprietary robot, not human salad makers, is handling the bulk of the work.
"You just walk in, there's a digital tablet, you place your order and it goes right to this robot, which is front and center in the restaurant and it has these tubes where the ingredients are," Wall Street Journal reporter Heather Haddon told CBS News.
Sweetgreen began piloting the tech in May, after acquiring robotic kitchen startup Spyce, to speed up operations.
"We believe that automation will enable us to elevate the quality and integrity of our food while also providing a faster and more convenient experience for our customers and a better, more dynamic job for our team members," Sweetgreen CEO and co-founder Jonathan Neman said in a statement at the time.
Other fast food and fast casual restaurant chains are experimenting with automation, too. Chipotle and White Castle have tested similar systems.
At Sweetgreen, the robot shoots greens such as kale into a salad bowl, which moves on a conveyor belt as other components are added and the salad is dressed and shaken.
"Then a person just puts on the final ingredients and it's put on a little shelf and you pick it up and that's it," Haddon said. "And I have to say it was fast. I think it was probably much faster than the Sweetgreen you might see in Midtown Manhattan."
The tech is also helping Sweetgreen make salads faster and more cheaply.
"When they're at peak time, when they're really slammed, when you're waiting in that line trying to get that salad at Sweetgreen, this can speed it up. And it will save on labor," Haddon said. "The Sweetgreen out in Naperville said it was using much less labor to actually assemble the salads."
Sweetgreen said it plans to integrate the "Infinite Kitchen" technology into new restaurants it opens. "They're really orienting their company around it," Haddon said.
- In:
- Robot
veryGood! (399)
Related
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- EPA to Send Investigators to Probe ‘Distressing’ Incidents at the Limetree Refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands
- An energy crunch forces a Hungarian ballet company to move to a car factory
- Unwinding the wage-price spiral
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- World Meteorological Organization Sharpens Warnings About Both Too Much and Too Little Water
- Collin Gosselin Pens Message of Gratitude to Dad Jon Amid New Chapter
- This $23 Travel Cosmetics Organizer Has 37,500+ 5-Star Amazon Reviews
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Q&A: Al Gore Describes a ‘Well-Known Playbook’ That Fossil Fuel Companies Employ to Win Community Support
Ranking
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Super Bowl commercials, from Adam Driver(s) to M&M candies; the hits and the misses
- A Bankruptcy Judge Lets Blackjewel Shed Coal Mine Responsibilities in a Case With National Implications
- Driven by Industry, More States Are Passing Tough Laws Aimed at Pipeline Protesters
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- Does Another Plastics Plant in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Make Sense? A New Report Says No
- Renting a home may be more financially prudent than buying one, experts say
- Suspect charged in Gilgo Beach serial killings cold case that rocked Long Island
Recommendation
The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
Indian authorities accuse the BBC of tax evasion after raiding their offices
What does the Adani Group's crash mean for India's economy?
Inflation eased again in January – but there's a cautionary sign
Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
Missing Titanic Submersible: Former Passenger Details What Really Happens During Expedition
Sarah Jessica Parker Weighs In on Sex and the City's Worst Man Debate
The U.S. could run out of cash to pay its bills between July and September