White Castle orders 100 fast-food robots from Miso Robotics
White Castle, an American fast-food restaurant chain specialising in burgers and fries, has ordered 100 “Flippy 2” robotic frying cells from Miso Robotics, a company which has developed a range of robotic systems for the catering industry. (See video below.)
White Castle has almost 400 locations across the US and approximately 10,000 employees. With the installation of the robots – mainly the “Flippy 2” model (main picture) – many of its employees who were on frying duty will be put to different tasks. The company has been testing Miso robots since September 2020, and upgraded to Flippy 2 in November last year. .
Jeff Carper, chief operating officer at White Castle, says: “Our partnership with Miso continues to lead the way on what’s next for back of house restaurant operations looking to empower team members with technology to better satisfy customers.
“Having Flippy 2 be a new hire at 100 of our White Castle locations keeps us on a path to achieve big goals at White Castle.”
Miso says that, by taking over the work of an entire fry station, Flippy 2 “alleviates the pain points that come with back-of-house roles at quick-service restaurants to create a working environment for its human coworkers that maximizes the efficiency of the kitchen”.
It adds that the improved workflow allows for the redeployment of team members to focus on creating memorable moments for customers.
White Castle anticipates many improvements in efficiency, product quality and team member experience as a result of its partnership with Miso Robotics.
Rollouts of Flippy 2 are being phased by region and will be planned out and scheduled in the months and years ahead.
Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics, says: “We could not be more grateful for the confidence White Castle has shown in us as we enter into the next phase of our partnership.
“White Castle was the first large brand to embrace our technology and we are thrilled that our Flippy pilot made such a positive impact on their operations that they want to integrate 100 more. We can’t wait to continue on this journey with such an outstanding partner.”
Miso Robotics is primarily funded by individual investors and has been one of the most successful equity crowdfunding campaigns in history.
With over 15,000 shareholders, the company has raised more than $50 million in crowdfunding to date and is currently in its Series E round, which kicked off with a market valuation of $500 million.