Five technology-related developments stand out as innovations that may shift the foodservice sector going forward, reports Food Management.
The trends to watch are:
1. Farmer’s Fridge fresh vending machines offering salads, bowls, and other healthy fare. These fresh vending machines are rapidly popping up in hospitals and airports.
2. Robots delivering hotel roomservice meals at the Beijing Olympics. Guests simply enter a code that opens up the robot to reveal the food package.
3. Chick-fil-A’s rail-based auto food delivery, which has become a TikTok sensation. The claw-like contraption utilizes an automatic rail that takes the bag through the restaurant's ceiling to the customer.
4. A contactless dine-in initiative at Panera Bread. “This is part of a larger effort to create a digitally enabled cafe,” said George Hanson, senior vice president, chief digital officer for Panera, according to the article.
5. Pizza Hut’s Fully Robotic Restaurant-in-a-Box, which operates out of the parking lot. The operation has the capacity of turning out up to 50 pies per hour. Full Story
Related: Robot Delivery Comes to University of Arizona; Suburban Amazon Go Stores to Open.