Miso Robotics, which in recent months has expanded deals with White Castle and Chipotle—both on automated cooking devices—unveiled its latest product line on Tuesday, “CookRight Coffee.” The AI-powered system will be tested at Panera Bread, the company said.
CookRight Coffee monitors coffee metrics such as volume, temperature, and time data. Combined with predictive analytics, Miso said the system will be able to “guarantee a fresh cup of coffee and a more efficient team member experience.”
Panera will use it to eliminate the need for manual checks of coffee urns and to provide insights into volume and temperature. “This allows Panera associates to brew a new batch at precisely the right time so that coffee stays fresh and hot for Panera guests,” Miso said, adding it will support the fast casual’s “Unlimited Sip Cup,” membership, which launched in February 2020 and offers consumers unlimited coffee and tea for $8.99 per month.
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“Panera has a long history of tech innovation in service of meeting the needs of our guests and associates when they walk through our doors each day,” said George Hanson, Panera’s SVP and chief digital officer, in a statement. “CookRight Coffee is a game changer when it comes to convenience and operational efficiency, and we are extremely excited to take our coffee station into the future with Miso Robotics.”
CookRight Coffee builds on Miso’s CookRight system, a platform engineered to evolve as it learns from its environment.
“In order to meet the needs of the rapidly evolving restaurant industry, we want our products to come to market quickly and maintain a high level of flexibility,” added Mike Bell, CEO of Miso, in a statement. “When we announced the CookRight platform in 2021, we knew we could apply it to various stations at a restaurant as the product developed, and we saw an immediate need for it at the coffee station. We are thrilled that Panera shares in our vision to revamp the coffee monitoring process, and can’t wait for CookRight Coffee to be installed at their restaurants to help customers and team members alike.”
Miso touts more than 18,000 shareholders and has raised north of $50 million in crowdfunding to date. The company, currently in its Series E round, was valued at $500 million.
In March, Miso announced Chipotle had begun testing “Chippy,” an autonomous kitchen assistant that makes tortilla chips. It’s also the company behind “Flippy” (now in its Flippy 2 model), which White Castle said in February it was ready to expand to 100 locations. Flippy takes over the fry station in an effort to free up workers for other tasks and recently added an “AutoBin” system for lower volume and specialty foods such as onion rings or chicken tenders.
