Miso Robotics, the startup specialising in automation for the foodservice industry, has launched its newest product line – Flippy Wings, which the company claims is “the only robotic chicken wing frying solution designed from the ground up for high volume restaurants”.
The lead innovation partner in the Flippy Wings initiative is the multi-brand restaurant company Inspire Brands.
Buffalo Wild Wings, part of the Inspire family of brands, began testing Flippy Wings at the Inspire Brands Innovation Center this fall.
Built on Miso’s latest Flippy platform, Flippy Wings is an all-new edition designed to meet the specific needs of restaurants, particularly those that specialize in buffalo wings.
As operators look for ways to maximize efficiency, Flippy Wings gives restaurants an immediately impactful solution that streamlines operations in a cost-effective way.
Through a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, restaurants can see a positive return on investment “from the first day of operation” by making Flippy Wings an easy and affordable addition to kitchens, according to Miso.
The robotic solution also allows restaurants to redeploy team members to more guest-facing functions, ultimately improving the guest experience.
Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics, says: “We’re incredibly proud to not only unveil Flippy Wings, but to also have an exceptional brand like Inspire share our vision of kitchen automation.
“From day one, Flippy Wings will cook more food with less waste and save staff for higher value contributions. Flippy Wings fries fresh, frozen or hand-breaded products like a pro, avoiding cross contamination and increasing throughput while reducing costs.
“It is fast, safer to operate than traditional fryers and the whole system can be set up in just a few hours over existing equipment. We think team members in restaurants everywhere are going to love having Flippy Wings working for them.”
Flippy Wings includes an all-new AutoBin system which provides kitchen staff an array of food-safe bins where products are dropped to be cooked. AI vision automatically identifies the food, then Flippy Wings picks up, cooks and drops it off into a hot holding area.
Team members are able to cook more while spending far less time attending to the deep fryer. The frying area is also made safer as Flippy Wings eliminates several hot touchpoints and drastically decreases oil spillage.
Also, Miso’s tests show a 10-20 percent overall increase in food production speeds when deploying the machine. With better rates of cook-time accuracy, Flippy Wings will allow brands to consistently deliver unmatched quality.
The first Flippy Wings unit, dubbed “Wingy” by the kitchen team, is currently installed at the Inspire Brands Innovation Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where the robot is being tailored and tuned to specifications.
A Flippy Wings unit will be installed at Inspire’s Alliance Kitchen, their pioneering ghost kitchen, to test it in a real cooking environment, before eventually making its way to a standalone Buffalo Wild Wings location next year.
Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire Brands, says: “Technology is making a fundamental impact on the end-to-end restaurant operational model.
“Intelligent automation including AI and robotics will not only transform how we communicate with and take orders from our guests but also how we prepare and serve food to those guests. This transformation will ultimately result in improved efficiencies in our restaurants and an overall elevated experience for our guests and our team members.”
In addition to Inspire, Miso Robotics has several other pilot agreements with leading national brands in place, with more partner and product announcements planned for 2021. Flippy Wings addresses a large market including major wing, pizza, sport, and family chicken brands.
Miso Robotics is primarily funded by individual investors and is one of the most successful crowdfund stories in history.
With nearly 12,000 shareholders, the company has raised more than $30 million in crowdfunding to date and is currently in their Series D round, which kicked off with a market valuation of $350 million – a $270 million increase since their $80 million Series C open – and which recently passed $5 million in new investments.
