Expansion of Cooking Robots in Industries like Chicken, Pizza, and School Meals
Helps Reduce Labor Costs and Prevent Safety Accidents
Expected Increase in Usage Across the Industry
With next year's minimum wage surpassing 10,000 won for the first time, cases of introducing automated systems including cooking robots are increasing, especially in the food service industry. The demand is expected to rise based on the judgment that it helps reduce labor costs and the risk of safety accidents, thereby improving the efficiency of store operations.
According to the related industry on the 20th, chicken franchise bhc Chicken recently decided to introduce the frying robot 'TuiiBot' to about 30 stores. Starting with the Jeungmi Station branch in the second half of last year, TuiiBot was newly introduced in six stores including Daegu Kyungdae North Gate branch last month, and Gyeryong Eomsa, Ilsan Deogi, Jebudo, and Geumho branches this month. A bhc official said, "We are mainly introducing TuiiBot to franchisees who are opening new stores," adding, "We plan to deploy TuiiBot in a total of 30 stores by the end of the year."
TuiiBot is a robot that cooks fried dishes in the kitchen instead of humans. When ingredients coated with batter are placed on the machine, the robot automatically moves the tray and cooks. This robot was jointly developed by bhc Chicken and LG Electronics' in-house venture.
Earlier, Kyochon F&B also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with robot manufacturer Neuromeka in 2021 and developed a cooking robot dedicated to Kyochon Chicken, deploying it in six domestic franchise stores. Kyochon's chicken cooking robot handles the first frying, piece shaping (removing unnecessary fried crumbs attached to chicken pieces), and the second frying process. This year, they plan to introduce Neuromeka cooking robots at the Kyochon Chicken directly operated stores Mid Wilshire and Rowland Heights in California, USA. They are also developing frying robots through an MOU with Doosan Robotics to 'expand chicken robot solutions.'
The acceleration of robot introduction for frying tasks by chicken franchises is aimed at reducing labor costs and preventing safety accidents that may occur during the cooking process. According to cooking robot specialist company Dtech, some chicken franchise stores reportedly confirmed labor cost savings equivalent to two employees assuming monthly sales of 100 million won.
Other food service franchises and catering companies are also introducing robots and automation devices to improve operational efficiency. Domino's Pizza recently signed an MOU with robot motion specialist company RS Automation to apply core robot motion technology to the pizza manufacturing process. Through this, they started automated pizza dough work at the Cheonan factory and plan to carry out projects for pizza manufacturing automation in stores as well.
The entire process of Stella Pizza preparation is carried out through full automation. [Photo by Hanwha Foodtech]
Hanwha Foodtech acquired the American robot pizza brand 'Stella Pizza,' which possesses world-class technology in the pizza robot market, in February. The pizza robot of this brand takes about 5 minutes to make a 12-inch pizza. Since it can handle multiple orders consecutively, once cooking starts, one pizza is completed per minute. The price of one pizza is about 8 to 9 dollars (based on Los Angeles, USA), which the company explains is about 60% of major pizza brands.
CJ Freshway, a group catering specialist company, had introduced robots and automation devices in 110 locations including client companies' cafeterias and food courts as of the end of last year. This is about a 140% increase compared to the previous year. Robots include serving robots, patty cooking robots, wok bots that replace stir-fry cooking, and automation devices include cup washing sterilizers, automatic rice dispensers, vegetable cutters, sushi molders, and gimbap machines. Samsung Welstory replaced 327 types of ingredients that are difficult to handle manually with a 'One Pack' system to minimize manual work in food distribution and food service establishments. They also prepared automated cafeteria solutions for group catering clients and recommend automated equipment such as cooking robots to customers.
Additionally, Pulmuone Food & Culture, a food service specialist company of Pulmuone, introduced cooking robots and digital unmanned delivery services at the Ansan complex rest area on the Yeongdong Expressway, which opened in May 2022, and deployed a coffee specialty drive-thru (DT) and robot barista system. An industry official predicted, "The use of automated systems including cooking robots will increase, centered on food service franchises burdened by labor costs as well as food and service companies concerned about labor shortages."
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