From Serving Robots to Cooking Robots... Foodtech Startups Leading 'Unmanned' Trend in the Foodservice Industry

Wave Cooking Robot Produces 250 Dishes per Hour
Kitchen Manager Scans Food Waste for AI Chef Also Emerges

Cooking robot by Wave Lifestyle Tech. (Photo by Wave)

A food tech startup aiding the automation of the dining industry is gaining attention. As serving robots establish themselves in restaurants and cafes, the launch of other automation technology-related services such as cooking robots and unmanned vending machines, along with investments, are becoming active.

Robot kitchen startup Wave Lifestyle Tech is currently conducting a Series A2 investment round worth 33 billion KRW. Private equity fund (PEF) operator ABIZ Partners is expected to acquire convertible bonds (CB) worth between 15 billion and 20 billion KRW. The remaining approximately 10 billion KRW is reported to come from existing investors. A Wave representative stated, "We plan to complete the investment by September and acquire Hanil Onyx, the number one kitchen equipment company, within the year," adding, "The scale of the investment may vary depending on the acquisition price of Hanil Onyx."

Founded in 2018, Wave supplies cooking robots and dispensers that automatically allocate various ingredients into designated containers. Hanil Onyx designs and supplies cooking utensils and hoods to major corporate group catering facilities. Wave plans to increase the market share of cooking robot adoption through Hanil Onyx’s large-scale sales organization. Wave’s cooking robots can prepare about 250 finished products per hour and handle 75 menu items across 8 brands, including rice bowls and steaks.

AI chefs are also popular. Food tech startup Beyond Honeycomb secured 7 billion KRW in Series A funding last month on the 4th from LB Investment and the Korea Development Bank. Beyond Honeycomb’s chef robot can analyze and replicate famous chefs’ dishes at the molecular level using AI. It quantifies factors such as degree of charring, doneness, and juice content. When robot-made dishes are sold, royalties are paid to the chefs. Beyond Honeycomb opened a restaurant called "Singularity" in Pangyo Techno Valley, offering food prepared by the chef robot. A Beyond Honeycomb representative said, "We plan to establish a U.S. subsidiary with the investment funds and expand into the North American market."

Solutions that act like kitchen assistants are also receiving high industry interest. AI food tech startup NubiLab’s "Kitchen Manager" is a representative example. Kitchen Manager is a solution that uses AI scanning to check how much of a specific dish remains in restaurants or cafeterias, how much food people leave uneaten, and the calorie content of specific dishes. This technology allows understanding of customer preferences for certain foods on specific dates or periods. It facilitates cooking volume adjustment and food waste management. In June, NubiLab was the only domestic food tech company selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s (Davos Forum) Top 100 Technology Pioneers.

Unmanned vending machines, where customers serve themselves without the need for serving alcoholic beverages and drinks, are gradually expanding their business areas. Unmanned store solution startup PhaseCommU received approval to supply unmanned alcohol vending machines through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s regulatory sandbox demonstration exemption in June 2021. Since then, it has supplied alcohol vending machines to supermarkets and convenience stores (GS25). Last month, PhaseCommU expanded alcohol vending machines to general restaurants. Customers can purchase alcohol after adult verification via mobile ID or Kakao QR code. A PhaseCommU representative said, "Supplying alcohol vending machines to general restaurants is the first in the industry," adding, "Seeing dining businesses actively adopting serving robots, we are confident that demand for alcohol vending machines will grow."

Currently, there are about 700,000 dining establishments in South Korea. Among food robots, serving robots are the most preferred by the dining industry, with an expected distribution of 10,000 units by the end of this year. Even by this standard, the penetration rate is only 1.42%. This indicates a high growth potential for the food robot market. As more dining businesses achieve labor cost savings through the adoption of serving robots, cases of introducing automation solutions or robots in the dining industry are expected to increase further. Market research firm MarketsandMarkets analyzed that the global food robot market size will grow from 1.9 billion USD in 2020 to 4 billion USD (approximately 5.26 trillion KRW) by 2026, showing an average annual growth rate of 13%.