Chipotle Tests Chippy, an AI Kitchen Assistant
March 16, 2022
Chipotle Mexican Grill has announced its latest digital innovation, Chippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant that integrates “culinary traditions with artificial intelligence” to make tortilla chips. The system utilizes Miso Robotics to customize its latest solution to cook and freshly season Chipotle’s tortilla chips.
“We are always exploring opportunities to enhance our employee and guest experience,” said Curt Garner, chief technology officer at Chipotle. “Our goal is to drive efficiencies through collaborative robotics that will enable Chipotle’s crew members to focus on other tasks in the restaurant.”
Chipotle’s culinary team guided Miso in tailoring its technology to maintain the culinary integrity of the brand, Chipotle said. Leveraging AI, Chippi is trained to replicate Chipotle’s exact recipe – using corn masa flour, water and sunflower oil – to cook the chips, season with a dusting of salt, and finish with a hint of fresh lime juice. Chipotle said it was imperative that the technique remained the same so customers receive “delicious, craveable chips every time.”
“Everyone loves finding a chip with a little more salt or an extra hint of lime,” said Nevielle Panthaky, vice president of culinary at Chipotle. “To ensure we didn’t lose the humanity behind our culinary experience, we trained Chippy extensively to ensure the output mirrored our current product, delivering some subtle variations in flavor that our guests expect.”
The Chippy system is currently being tested at Chipotle’s Cultivate Center, an innovation hub in Irvine, Calif., and will be integrated into a Chipotle restaurant in Southern California later this year. The company said it is leveraging its stage-gate process to listen, test and learn from crew and guest feedback before deciding on a national implementation strategy.”
“When Chipotle challenged us to see if our technology could meet the brand’s high standards for culinary quality, we couldn’t wait to flex our engineering and design muscles,” said Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics. “This partnership will allow us to move into new territory to help improve back-of-house functions and assist team members with their day-to-day responsibilities.”
For more information on Miso Robotics’ commercial food service automation solutions, visit its website here.
