As the weather gets colder and Covid-19 cases rise in Colorado, restaurants will have to think fast to accommodate indoor diners this winter.
In preparation, local technology companies and startups are offering a hand to their restaurant counterparts, innovating to create safe dining experiences and new revenue streams.
Air filtering
For years, Christian Avedon of Longmont-based Airius Fans said customers’ top priority was energy savings for HVAC products. Since Covid-19, that has completely flipped, as the company’s customers are now searching for air purification technology.
“Instead of people considering their designs for energy savings, they’re looking at it more from a health and safety standpoint,” he said.
For nearly two decades, Airius has been working in the HVAC space with fans that regulate the temperature in taller buildings. When the company saw the impacts of Covid-19, it made a quick pivot to air circulation and purification efforts.
Avedon said the company’s experience in the space allowed it to act quickly as restaurants scrambled.
“Instead of taking years to develop, we were able to create a partnership with an indoor air quality company and apply that technology to our devices,” he said.
The company has partnered with several local restaurants and bars, including Bierstadt Lagerhaus to retrofit their space for the winter months. With Airius’ PureAir Series, indoor particles, pathogens, bacteria, molds and odors are actively filtered through fans that can be easily installed.
But, even with that technology, Avedon said it’s going to take a group effort to create a safe dining experience this winter.
“Ours isn’t going to get everything, the filters aren’t going to get everything, so let’s stack as many technologies on top of each other to take care of the air quality,” he said.
Virtual kitchens
Since coming to Denver in 2018, restaurant technology startup Ordermark has been adding a digital flare to the food industry, first with delivery consolidation and then with a unique concept they’ve dubbed "virtual kitchens."
The company, which has hundreds of employees across the country and estimates about 60 percent are based in Denver, has seen an uptick in its business since the pandemic began.
Ordermark works with more 5,000 restaurants across North America to consolidate mobile orders across online ordering services and sends them to a single printer. It also operates a series of virtual kitchens called Nextbite that run inside existing restaurants and produce food for the company’s 18 brands, including Grilled Cheese Society and HotBox by Wiz Khalifa.
Co-founder and President Paul Allen said Nextbite offers a new way for restaurants to generate additional delivery revenue during a challenging time for indoor dining.
“We look for the right operators and right locations, and after we screen them, we train them,” he said. Ordermark has an office and test kitchen in downtown Denver, along with a sales office south of the city.
Unlike "ghost kitchens" that utilize empty real estate to run delivery-only restaurants, Allen said Nextbite is designed with existing restaurants in mind.
“Those are different because they are competing, they are taking orders from brick-and-mortar restaurants,” he said of ghost kitchens.
Artificial intelligence
Covid-19 has caused another impact for the food industry, as a nationwide labor shortage has left many restaurants understaffed.
Denver-based Valyant AI has been working on an artificial intelligence ordering solution for quick-service restaurants for nearly four and a half years, long before the current industry turmoil.
The company has seen interest in its drive-thru ordering assistant explode since the pandemic began. Valyant AI has worked with Lakewood-based Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custards in the past and continues to work with various quick-serve restaurants.
Valyant’s technology is targeted at taking orders, freeing up employees to take on other, more complex tasks. The company’s AI software and hardware integrates into the restaurant operations and carries on a conversation with customers to get their orders.
Employees can monitor the incoming order and manually take it over if they notice an issue. When Valyant AI first began working with Good Times in Denver, its system was taking around 5% of orders. In June, as it worked with fast-food chain Checkers in Atlanta and Houston. There, Carpenter said the AI assistant is handling nearly 70% of incoming orders.
