Krispy Kreme CEO: Robots to Make Your Doughnuts “Within the Next 18 Months”
While speaking with Yahoo Finance, Mike Tattersfield, CEO of Krispy Kreme, opened up about how the company is looking to automate the production of its sweet treats. Saying in part, “Probably within the next 18 months, you’ll see some automation starting to go into the frosting, the filling, the sprinkles, and even the packaging,” The news came as the North Carolina-based company its investment in automation-focused technology as part of its Investor Day event. According to the company, the focus on this drive toward automation has to do with ensuring the freshness of its offerings.
As part of their plan, Krispy Kreme will utilize robots to expand efforts in the fresh hubs. They see the United States as a prime location to test the technology, which will focus on fresh daily deliveries to partner outlets such as quick-serve restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, and other locations that aren’t Krispy Kreme focused. If it works out the way the company hopes, a customer will be able to enjoy a locally produced full-sized donut without having to enter a Krispy Kreme location.
While speaking on the issue of delivering fresh donuts on location, Tattersfield said in part, “We’ve got some pretty big factory stores…we do 12,000 points of access today, which get fresh doughnuts globally…You need to start looking at the automation capacity of that because it is going to the grocers. It is going to the convenience shops.” This is an interesting point that Tattersfield points out about maximizing access to their product without sacrificing freshness. This is a similar reasoning beyond another attempt at automation within the food industry. Earlier this year, we reported how Chipotle is currently testing an AI system to assist on-the-ground labor with projecting rushes.
The point is to make sure to signal when food needs to be prepped, inventory controls, and more, to maintain the proper product quality as it’s given to hungry customers. It’s not just Mexican-focused restaurants or donut makers who are investing in AI & automation technology. Last week, a video went viral on Twitter showing off a fully automated McDonald’s in Texas with a one-of-a-kind storefront allowing the burger giant to further test new technologies as it continues to embed more automation and AI into its services.
What do you think is the current drive to invest in new AI-powered tools and automation within the food service industry? Are you interested in AI, but are unsure where to start? Ai+ has you covered. On-demand training from the leading experts in data science.
Originally posted on OpenDataScience.com
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