Inside Wavemaker Labs' Push to Automate Restaurants

David Shultz

David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.

Inside Wavemaker Labs' Push to Automate Restaurants
As Restaurants Scramble for Workers, It's 'Order Up' for Miso Robotics and Its Burger-Flipping Robot

Like so many other sectors, the restaurant industry continues to face a severe labor shortage.

The November 2021 jobs report found that employment in the leisure and hospitality sector was down by 1.3 million, or 7.9%, since February 2020—bad enough to prompt U.S. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh to admit he saw “room for improvement” in the industry.

But there’s no simple solution: A rising federal minimum wage, the option of the gig economy, a pandemic, and new attitudes about work and employment, have made it nearly impossible for restaurants to retain employees.

But for fast food restaurants, there appears to be a solution—albeit a controversial one—to bypass the worker shortage: remove workers from the equation altogether. Indeed, the industry appears to be on the cusp of a transition towards automation, and Los Angeles is situated at the center of the coming storm.


Wavemaker Labs is a Santa Monica-based incubator focused on automating the entire food industry supply chain “from seed to fork,” said Wavemaker founder and CEO Buck Jordan.

The company has focused on automating fast food and restaurant kitchens. It recently announced an ambitious robotics project with Nommi, which is working to create what’s basically a fully autonomous vending machine that dishes out Michelin-star-quality grain bowls. It was also one of the early backers of Miso Robotics, a company that’s making robots that can run a fry station or a drink station in a fast-food restaurant

Los Angeles is an auspicious proving ground for these technologies.

“California, especially Southern California, is a restaurant hub,” said Jake Brewer, Miso’s Chief Strategy Officer. “You have Panda, you have Chipotle, you have Taco Bell, Del Taco. You have these big brands that are centered there.”

These business opportunities, in combination with a strong pipeline of talent from schools like Cal Tech, have allowed Wavemaker Labs to form partnerships and pilot programs.

“It’s where food and tech meet,” said Brewer. “The food creativity in LA is unlike anywhere else and the tech creativity is unlike anywhere else. If two people live together long enough they either become friends or they kill each other. In this instance they became friends.”

Miso Robotics

Miso Robotics has been operating since 2016, but the company has only recently begun testing their tech in the wild.

Miso has 15 robots deployed in restaurants across America and has inked pilot deals with 12 restaurant brands including Buffalo Wild Wings, CaliBurger, and Compass Levy. The plan, according to Brewer, is to have hundreds of robots operational by the end of next year, and thousands by the end of 2023.

Currently, Miso offers three different solutions for the quick service restaurant industry, all of which are designed to help with back of house operations. The first two are robots that can run different stations, specifically the deep fryers and the drink stations.

The robots, known as Flippy and Sippy, effectively replace workers at these stations and—according to Miso—offer improved efficiency. The third piece of technology is an AI-powered camera training platform that helps new hires understand how to assemble orders and run the back of house.

Miso recently started a pilot with White Castle in 2020 for their robotic fry cook. The bot basically operates the deep fryer and the grill in the back of house, which is one of the most demanding jobs with the highest turnover rate in the industry, lasting on average, less than one year and often less than 6 months.

White Castle, Brewer says, was an especially challenging partnership for the company due to the large number of fried items on the menu, the high volume of the restaurant, and the brand’s complex limited time offer schemes. Still, the robot earned its keep, and White Castle is looking to add more Flippy units to its stores in 2022.

Bobacino robots are set for the food automation age.dot.la

Nommi

Nommi represents an arguably more ambitious vision of the future of fast food. The idea behind Nommi is to make the kitchen fully autonomous. Humans still have to oversee operations or perhaps clean and maintain the machines, but the idea behind Nommi is basically to make a vending machine that serves hot, fresh meals.

The technology follows in the shoes of other kiosk-style operations developed by Wavemaker. The incubator has already dabbled in a pizza kiosk (Piestro) and an autonomous boba-tea maker (Bobacino), but Nommi is considerably more ambitious both in terms of scale and what it might ultimately mean for the future of the industry.

The prototype Nommi kitchen makes bowl-style meals—think noodles plus chicken or rice plus veggies. All of the cooking, chopping, seasoning etc. is handled by a series of robots and the ingredients are dispensed into a bowl atop a small autonomous cart and delivered to a person.

The project has drawn the backing of former Iron Chef Koumei Nakamura, and prototypes are currently in development. “He’s real serious about his food,” said Jordan, who, in addition to his role as Wavemaker’s CEO, is also CEO at Nommi. Jordan says that consumers can expect to see Nommi pilot programs “in the wild” as early as the end of next year, with production versions following another year after that.

Brewer says the pandemic initially depressed in-store fast food purchases by upwards of 70%, but delivery and takeout numbers went through the roof and have remained high ever since. If this trend is here to stay, Jordan thinks Nommi may represent the future model of fast food.

“In five to seven years, what I think you’re going to see is a lot of major brands starting to design their menus to be automated,” he said. “When you can fully automate a menu, all of a sudden your real estate costs get cut by two thirds or three quarters because you have a kitchen in a box. Your labor goes to almost nothing.”

While the pricing schemes haven’t been worked out yet, Jordan’s hoping Nommi can deliver high-quality food at fast-casual prices.

“We know that the economics are so good for the Nommi machine that we sort of 4x the profitability of a comparable restaurant that’s operating in analog,” he said. “We think that allows us to really deliver Michelin star quality at a really affordable price. I would love to offer a grain bowl for $7.”

What About the Workers?

An average McDonald’s franchise employs between 50 to 150 people. A fully autonomous kitchen will still need humans to clean and service the machines. People will be required to repair damaged equipment. Delivery men will still drive raw goods to the machines. Someone will likely need to oversee the whole operation.

But even still, making a kitchen autonomous represents the loss of dozens of jobs. “Is it going to be one job lost and one job gained here? I doubt it. There will be a shift,” said Jordan.

Mark Muro, who studies automation at the Brookings Institute, says the thing he’s most concerned about is the loss of entry level jobs.

“It’s not always clear how you get started in America’s economy,” he said. “But one thing there’s always been is working in a restaurant or low-end retail. That could be a serious problem for teenage and 20-something workers.”

He also points out that underrepresented groups, who’ve historically taken low paying, difficult jobs, may be disproportionately impacted by automation in the sector.

Conversely, automation holds tremendous promises for business owners and potentially for consumers as well if costs decrease and consistency and quality improve. These aren’t groundbreaking concepts, but they’re ones that the industry will be forced to confront if automation becomes widespread.

“I don’t think we’re going to uninvent these technologies,” said Muro. The best we can do, in his eyes, is to give workers fair warning that their jobs are on the chopping block and provide opportunities for them to retrain.

Likewise, Jordan believes automation is coming one way or another. He points to the development of the tractor and other technological advances which, in the past, put large numbers of laborers out of jobs, but ultimately created more agricultural industry overall.

“My first job was making pizza at Valley Pizza in Woodland Hills,” he said. “I don’t think my son, when he’s 18 years old, is going to have that job available to him.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post stated that Wavemaker had just finished a pilot with Miso. That project just began.

LA Tech Week 2025: Sunday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Sunday, October 19th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

ARTS DISTRICT

3:00 PM

BEL AIR

3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

BURBANK

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

4:30 PM – 7:30 PM

INGLEWOOD

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

  • Spinovation: The Future Is Femme, The Future is Frequency: See Details Here
    Sonder Impact, Black Women Spin, Sip & Sonder

KOREATOWN

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

MARINA DEL REY

12:00 PM

  • Sunday Tech Brunch
    Sawubona

MID CITY

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • Women in Cleantech Hike and Network: See Details Here
    Women in Cleantech and Sustainability

SANTA MONICA

9:00 AM

10:00 AM

3:45 PM

4:00 PM – 7:30 PM

  • OFF THE HOOK Santa Monica Seafood Festival: See Details Here
    Spin PR Group, City of Santa Monica, Tech St.

6:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • Pritam: A Musical Legend - Live in Concert: See Details Here
    American South Asian Network

7:00 PM

  • Building AI workflow editor in React with Workflow Builder SDK: See Details Here
    Workflow Builder

7:00 PM

8:00 PM

  • Unlock Apple's Corporate Advantage for your Startup!: See Details Here
    iStore by St. Moritz

TOPANGA CANYON

3:00 PM

  • Dreamore Hike and Picnic: LA Tech Week: *Invite Only*
    Dreamore

VENICE

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

  • Coffee, Walk, and Schmooze: See Details Here
    JFE (Jews For Entrepreneurship) Network

VIRTUAL (LA)

10:00 AM

  • Level Up with LinkedIn: A Student’s Guide to Networking & Opportunities (Virtual Event): See Details Here
    FIMAC

10:00 AM

WEST ADAMS

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2025!

Download the dot.LA App


LA Tech Week 2025: Saturday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Saturday, October 18th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

BEVERLY HILLS

2:00 PM

CENTURY CITY

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

CULVER CITY

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

1:00 PM

DTLA

7:00 PM

  • {MiniMax x Nakid x SkyPortalx}: TECH/MOTION/MUSIC/ART: See Details Here
    MiniMax (Hailuo AI)

10:00 PM – 2:00 AM

EL SEGUNDO

10:00 AM

  • Venture on the Green: *Invite Only*
    BLCK VC

4:00 PM

INGLEWOOD

7:00 PM

  • Valar Atomics, Durin and Discipulus Ventures - Night With A Nuclear Reactor: See Details Here
    Valar Atomics, Durin, Discipulus Ventures

MARINA DEL REY

8:30 AM

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

5:00 PM

  • LOST iN Sunset Sail: Navigating the Tides of the Creator Economy & Media: See Details Here
    LOST iN

PASADENA

9:00 AM

PLAYA VISTA

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM

9:00 AM

  • Pedal & Network: Tech Cyclists @ LA Tech Week 🚵: See Details Here
    Instafill.ai

9:30 AM

  • Getty Center Guided Tour & (Optional) Photography Scavenger Hunt: See Details Here
    NEW MOON Impact Productions

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM

11:00 AM – 2:15 PM

12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

1:30 PM

  • Self-Defense in Court and the Streets: See Details Here
    Santa Monica Striking, Luri Inc.

2:00 PM

  • SMARTUP 500: THE FIRST AT TECH WEEK LA - Launching the world’s first Startup Ranking: See Details Here
    Smart Times

2:00 PM

  • NLPs (No Lame Panels) The Creator X Founder Rooftop Party: See Details Here
    Startup Village, Sanctuary

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

4:00 PM – 6:30 PM

  • Just Do It?: Helping Founders Perform Like Olympians: See Details Here
    Elite Psychology Group

5:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

  • The Future of Hospitality: Poetry, Provenance & Passports: See Details Here
    Villa Kitchen, Airble, We Speak Dance, Techstars San Francisco

7:00 PM

  • 🚀 Investor x Founder Open Mic Pitches: See Details Here
    Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

7:00 PM

  • Life is a Pitch - LA Edition: *Invite Only*
    DeepMyst

TOPANGA CANYON

5:00 PM – 8:30 PM

  • Walk&Jam: Use AI to make art while hiking Topanga Canyon: See Details Here
    Formhaus llc, Wonderland Immersive Design

TORRANCE

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

  • Crunches & Conversations Presented by The Differentials and KIS Training Studios: See Details Here
    The Differentials, KIS Training Studios

VENICE

1:00 PM – 4:30 PM

  • Beyond the Language Barrier: Exploring AI's Next Frontier: See Details Here
    Medusa AI

VENICE BEACH

8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

  • SŨRFED Club @ Venice Beach: Founders, Creators, Investors share the waves: See Details Here
    SŨRFED Club, Go Vitamins

WEST ADAMS

9:30 AM – 10:45 AM

  • Funders Shaping Democracy, AI & Media: See Details Here
    New Media Ventures, New Rising Ventures

WEST HOLLYWOOD

4:00 PM

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

9:30 PM

  • Vibe Check Comedy Show, Tech Week Edition! @ Hollywood Improv: See Details Here
    Vibe Check Comedy

For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2025!

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LA Tech Week 2025: Friday’s Event Lineup

Here's the Friday, October 17th lineup for LA Tech Week 2025, organized by location so you can easily explore events that fit your goals and schedule. Dive in and see what’s happening near you!

ARTS DISTRICT

8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

  • Power Day: Ideas, Pitches, Connections: See Details Here
    Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)

6:00 PM

  • WEB3 GAMING IS DEAD - Happy Hour: See Details Here
    Plassa Capital, Yee-Haw Monster Trucks

BEVERLY HILLS

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

4:00 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

  • So you went viral, Now what? (pt II): See Details Here
    Verci, Study Fetch, TechSpace

8:00 PM

  • Private Pool: GP x LP x FO: *Invite Only*
    Visionlist Commons , Bay Area Innovest

BRENTWOOD

8:00 AM

  • Founders & Investors Hike: See Details Here
    Salehpour Legal, Technology Founders of America

CARSON

11:45 AM

  • Lightspeed x SVB Porsche Experience: *Invite Only*
    Lightspeed Venture Partners, SVB

CULVER CITY

8:00 AM – 6:00 PM

11:00 AM

1:00 PM

  • Surf Parks & Wave Pools: From Doja Cat to Mark Zuckerberg: See Details Here
    Surflytics

8:00 PM – 12:00 AM

EL SEGUNDO

11:30 AM – 2:00 PM

5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

HOLLYWOOD

10:00 AM

  • AI, Revenue, and Reality: How Fortune 500s Work With Startups That Ship: See Details Here
    Sunrise AI, OpenTable

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

  • Unplugged: LA Tech Week Recharge Experience with TAY × Checked Out: See Details Here
    TAY Fitness, Checked Out

9:00 PM

INGLEWOOD

8:00 AM

  • TCSI Presents: Caffeine & Connections: See Details Here
    The Cyber Security Intellects Nonprofit

LONG BEACH

7:00 AM

MALIBU

10:00 AM

  • Great Leaders Podcast & Profiles: See Details Here
    NEW MOON Impact Productions, Origin Studios

12:30 PM

MARINA DEL REY

9:00 AM

  • Keeping Your Freedom as a Founder: Real Talk on Funding: See Details Here
    Lighter Capital

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

  • D-Wave Research Day & Hackathon!: See Details Here
    USC Information Sciences Institute, D-Wave

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

  • The Sky is Not the Limit: All About Aerospace: See Details Here
    Sunstone Management, USC Viterbi Startup Garage

PASADENA

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

  • Deep Tech Entrepreneurship Pillars of Pasadena Tech: See Details Here
    Innovate Pasadena, Pasadena SBDC, City of Pasadena

PLAYA VISTA

9:00 AM

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

  • Vision to Venture - AI Media Showcase powered by Google AI: See Details Here
    Google

SANTA MONICA

7:00 AM – 8:30 AM

  • Signal Run : RTC x Wildwood VC: See Details Here
    Run Tech Club, Wildwood Ventures

7:30 AM

8:45 AM – 10:45 AM

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • Slash Burn Rates & Scale Your Startup: See Details Here
    Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA)

9:00 AM

  • Driving a Digital Ecology Relay: What is at Stake: See Details Here
    The PORT GLOBAL, GLOBAL PORTAL INSTITUTE

9:30 AM – 11:30 AM

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

  • The Enduring Value of Inclusive Capital: See Details Here
    Founders Registry. Nervana

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

10:30 AM

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

  • Advisors to Investors Lunch: Venture Capital for enterprise leaders: See Details Here
    Collinear Capital, Worlds

12:00 PM

  • Powerhouse Capital & a16z speedrun Investor Lunch Mixer: See Details Here
    Powerhouse Capital, a16z, speedrun

2:00 PM

  • Where Robotics Meets Heart - Embedding Family Values in a Future with AI: See Details Here
    Trove, Puerto Rico Blockchain Association, MindfulBytes

2:00 PM

3:00 PM

3:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • Workshop: Create An Enterprise Chatbot and Unlock the 70% of Data Data You’re Not Using: See Details Here
    Aparavi

4:00 PM

5:00 PM – 10:00 PM

5:30 PM

5:30 PM – 9:30 PM

6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

  • USC Alumni Founders & Investors: See Details Here
    USC Alumni Entrepreneurship Network, Techstars

6:00 PM

  • Social Currency Series/Greenlit presents PitchPop: See Details Here
    Social Currency Series, Greenlit

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:30 PM

6:30 PM – 10:00 PM

6:30 PM

  • Lets get the LA Bioeconomy brewing: See Details Here
    Founders, Friends & Fermentation, Saku Biosciences

7:00 PM – 11:30 PM

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

7:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • Liquid Equity 2: The Premiere Gathering for Founders, Creator
    Coeus Collective

7:00 PM

7:00 PM

  • For the Love of Tech | Speed Dating for Tech Professionals: See Details Here
    Feathr, Los Angeles Fun Events

7:00 PM

SOUTH LA

3:00 PM

TORRANCE

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

  • The Future of Space & Security Panel: See Details Here
    Northwood Space, Anduril Industries, Impulse Space, Astranis

VENICE

9:00 AM – 10:45 AM

9:00 AM – 11:30 AM

11:00 AM

11:30 AM – 2:30 PM

12:30 PM

  • Creative Partners: Human + AI Storytelling: See Details Here
    Othelia, Primordial Soup

2:00 PM – 3:45 PM

5:00 PM

  • EarthHouse: Critical Minerals, Mobility & Modern Power: See Details Here
    The Strategye Group, Alpha Sierra One

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

6:00 PM

  • Pizza+Soda: *Invite Only*
    Schmoozd , The KINN

7:00 PM

VENICE BEACH

2:00 PM – 6:30 PM

5:00 PM

8:30 PM – 2:00 AM

VIRTUAL (LA)

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • Government of Alberta: ProcurementAsCode // Done in 60 Seconds: See Details Here
    Government of Alberta

4:00 PM

  • Stop Hitting Yourself 🥊: See Details Here
    Stop Hitting Yourself, HOWDY, Company Policy, Snowbird Global

WEST HOLLYWOOD

3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

6:00 PM

WESTSIDE

5:00 PM

5:30 PM – 8:30 PM


For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

Enjoy LA Tech Week 2025!

Download the dot.LA App


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