Imagine ordering dinner and receiving a perfectly cooked steak in five minutes. Maybe you want a burger. That can be done in under a minute!
Chili's amazing kitchen automation enhancements are making casual dining's future a reality with food prep times like that.
The legendary casual eating firm with over 1,600 sites had been experimenting with new automation methods for years. Robot food
runners, an early drone delivery effort, and a never-launched delivery scheme with fully autonomous sidewalk robots are examples.
These dining-room droids were striking. Some sang to guests. Chili's CEO Kevin Hochman told Insider the mechanical marvels didn't increase
commerce or enhance working conditions. Hochman: "The robotics were slower than our servers can do." "They kind of get in the way."
Hochman soon spotted this issue after taking over Brinker International (Chili's parent company) in May 2022. Instead, he moved the latest
technologies to the kitchen and kept humans in the eating areas. A few months after Hochman took over, Chili's stopped automating service
and delivery and invested extensively in kitchen automation to prepare meals faster and more consistently.