Chipotle Mexican Grill is testing Miso Robotics’ latest autonomous kitchen assistant, Chippy, to cook tortilla chips.
The company is currently trying out Chippy at the Chipotle Cultivate Center, its innovation hub in Irvine, California, and plans to integrate the technology at a Chipotle restaurant in Southern California later this year.
Newport Beach, California-based Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) said it is using the process to listen, test and learn from crew and guest feedback before deciding on a national implementation strategy.
“We are always exploring opportunities to enhance our employee and guest experience,” Chipotle Chief Technology Officer Curt Garner said in a statement. “Our goal is to drive efficiencies through collaborative robotics that will enable Chipotle’s crew members to focus on other tasks in the restaurant.”
Chipotle already uses artificial intelligence with its concierge chat bot, Pepper, used on its app and website for customer questions.
With Chippy, the Mexican restaurant chain worked with Pasadena, California-based Miso Robotics to tailor its technology to replicate Chipotle’s recipe — comprising corn masa flour, water and sunflower oil — to cook the chips and season them with a dusting of salt and finish with a hint of lime juice.
Chipotle said it was imperative that the technique remained the same as the restaurant’s own method.
“Everyone loves finding a chip with a little more salt or an extra hint of lime,” said Nevielle Panthaky, vice president of culinary at Chipotle. “To ensure we didn’t lose the humanity behind our culinary experience, we trained Chippy extensively to ensure the output mirrored our current product, delivering some subtle variations in flavor that our guests expect.”
“When Chipotle challenged us to see if our technology could meet the brand’s high standards for culinary quality, we couldn’t wait to flex our engineering and design muscles,” Miso Robotics CEO Mike Bell said. “This partnership will allow us to move into new territory to help improve back-of-house functions and assist team members with their day-to-day responsibilities.”
Miso Robotics’ other AI-driven technologies include the Flippy frying robot, Sippy automatic beverage dispenser and CookRight, which monitors food safety and standards in real time.
Chipotle operates more than 2,950 restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
