Global Coffee Brand Enters Unmanned Cafe Market
Robot Baristas, Vending Machines, Smart Showcases
24-Hour Unmanned Operation... Reducing Wait Times
(From the top left) Cafe X in the United States, Costa Coffee, Crown Coffee's robot barista Ella, and China's robot barista COFE+
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the spread of non-face-to-face activities across society. The global cafe market is also rapidly shifting towards an ‘untact market’ utilizing unmanned stores and robots.
In the United States, ‘CafeX’ has been pioneering the robot barista market by operating a prototype robot coffee bar in San Francisco since 2017. Robot coffee bars located in airports and shopping centers delight consumers with their sleek appearance and robot dance performances. CafeX’s competitor, ‘Costa Coffee,’ has a barista bot in the form of a vending machine that can produce 100 cups of coffee per hour and is preparing to expand to 25 airports.
China’s robot barista company COFE+ operates about 10 stores as of last year. It takes about one minute from grinding to beverage preparation for a single cup of coffee. The robot arm independently creates milk foam, whipped cream, and powder decorations, producing over 50 recipes tailored to different tastes. COFE+ operates unmanned 24 hours a day, with the interior functioning as a sterile room and a transparent process of high-temperature sterilization.
Singapore’s ‘Crown Coffee’ developed the robot barista Ella, which can serve various coffee and tea beverages. Orders and payments can be made not only via a touch panel but also through a dedicated application (app) and transportation cards. Recently, Ella was installed for pilot operation at Tokyo Station and Yokohama Station, targeting high-traffic locations such as airports and train stations, similar to other robot barista companies.
Korea, as an IT advanced country, has many brands and stores in the unmanned cafe market. Bit Corporation’s Bit introduced the third-generation robot cafe ‘Bit3X’ in March and is expanding into B2C (business-to-consumer) type stores. The stores operate unmanned in spaces around 50㎡ and can be managed and controlled via LiDAR. Waiting times have been significantly reduced compared to previous models. Alibaba Partners, a domestic food and beverage franchise, is also expanding 24-hour unmanned cafes by sourcing robots from Hyundai Robotics. With a smart showcase, customers can enjoy various snacks such as macarons, donuts, and Taiwanese sandwiches.
The coffee specialty franchise Coffee Evanhada has been developing its own barista ‘Marco’ since 2017 and operates it in over 200 locations nationwide. The unmanned cafes consist of three lineups: robot barista Marco, Cartesian robot Kai, and integrated self-machine Lily, capable of producing about 60 different menu items. They have implemented unmanned store access control, remote management of lighting and heating/cooling, and a real-time monitoring system. To reduce disposable product use, they have also developed a system that allows the use of tumblers.
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