Robotics
Flippy first entered the market in 2017. Miso initially charged burger chain White Castle $60,000 to install the first machines at its locations—an arm and a leg for a bulky robot equipped with a robotic arm that could slap patties onto a grill.
Five years later, the startup's efforts to scale the technology have brought down its cost down to $3,000 per month. Today’s Flippy 2 features a much sleeker design that takes up considerably less kitchen space. No longer content as a mere burger flipper, the upgraded Flippy has been designed to maneuver Jack in the Box’s proprietary fry baskets to cook everything from taco shells to fish filets to curly fries—freeing up employees to handle customers or prep other items.
Flippy 2 cooking Jack in the Box curly fries. Courtesy of Miso Robotics
There are dozens of Flippy robotic arms currently making burgers, with the early adopters including CaliBurger and Dodgers Stadium. Earlier this year, White Castle announced it would install Flippy 2 robots at 100 locations across the country.
But unlike White Castle, Jack in the Box serves a wide variety of menu items, from tacos to chicken tenders, that require more than just a spatula to finish the job—presenting Miso with a “a new challenge,” Jake Brewer, the startup's chief strategy officer, told dot.LA.
“A taco shell…that’s more delicate than a chicken nugget or french fry. So we were able to adapt Flippy to be able to accept those items,” Brewer said.
Once a food item is placed before Flippy, the robot's AI-enabled camera will identify the food, pick it up, cook it in the correct fry basket and safely place it into a holding area. Brewer said the company was already developing add-ons allowing the attachment of specialty baskets to the robot, but when the request came in from Jack in the Box, the process was accelerated.
Sippy, Miso's automatic drink dispenser and sealer that will roll out at the end of the year.Courtesy of Miso Robotics
Miso is currently putting the finishing touches on Sippy, an automatic beverage dispenser and sealer that will be joining Flippy 2 at the Jack in the Box in San Diego by the end of this year. The startup is currently in the process of raising a Series E funding round, having set an initial target of $40 million.
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Panera will begin using Miso’s CookRight Coffee system at select Midwest locations later this month, the companies said Tuesday. The technology uses proprietary sensors that can measure coffee temperature, how much coffee has been dispensed and how long since a newly brewed batch was last placed in a coffee urn, making it easier for Panera workers to maintain their coffee stations.
The tablet that Panera employees will use to check coffee metrics. Courtesy of Miso Robotics
Miso began developing CookRight Coffee in September with input from Panera, whose employees had complained that the constant back-and-forth of checking on the restaurant’s coffee dispensers was a time suck. Miso sought to address those concerns by designing a user interface that allows Panera employees to access and view a coffee station’s metrics on a tablet without needing to physically check the urns.
Miso Robotics chief strategy officer Jake Brewer.
Courtesy of Miso Robotics
“We are fortunate that Panera was seeking something to solve this need; at the same time, we were seeking to develop something to solve this for the [restaurant] industry,” Miso chief strategy officer Jake Brewer told dot.LA. “While [Panera employees are] doing their primary tasks—serving the guests and making food—they can always be monitoring the coffee.”
Brewer did not provide the price of the CookRight Coffee system or financial details of Miso’s partnership with Panera.
Last month, the robotics startup partnered with fast-casual chain Chipotle on an AI-enabled tortilla chip-making machine dubbed “Chippy,” which will be trialed at one of Chipotle’s Southern California locations later this year.
It’s also teamed with burger chain White Castle on a burger-flipping robot nicknamed “Flippy,” and is developing an automated soda fountain machine named “Sippy.”
“We’re able to scale products quicker and quicker, because we’re using the same building blocks,” Brewer said. “Coffee was just the next one that was kind of timed with a big customer who was looking for it.”
Miso, which is backed by Santa Monica-based food-tech incubator Wavemaker Labs, is currently in the process of raising a Series E funding round that initially launched with a $40 million target. Brewer said Miso has already secured more than $5 million in funding through the round, which he noted is now projected to raise between $25 million to $30 million in total capital.
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