Chipotle is hiring a robot to do a task employees hate
- The avocado-cutting robot is expected to slice guacamole prep time in half.
- "Autocado" is designed to cut, core, and peel avocados.
Chipotle Mexican Grill workers can lay down their avocado slicers and de-pitters. The fast food chain is testing out a robot to take over the job.
While making guacamole takes employees around 50 minutes, the avocado-cutting robot is expected to slice that prep time in half, the company said.
While the "Autocado" robot is designed to efficiently cut, core, and peel avocados and eliminate food waste, Chipotle employees will still be responsible for hand-mashing the avocado and adding extra ingredients to make the guacamole.
"We are committed to exploring collaborative robotics to drive efficiencies and ease pain points for our employees," Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer at Chipotle, said in a news release. The "Autocado" is one of a handful of initiatives Chiptole has rolled out recently that the company says will help make their employees' lives a little easier, like faster grills and ways to streamline complicated orders that go viral on TikTok.
The robot could be good news for some employees. Avocado prep is one of Chipotle employees' least favorite responsibilities, Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer at Chipotle, told CNBC.
Chipotle's robot could also help alleviate lingering labor shortages that have swept across the restaurant industry. Chipotle isn't alone in adding automated labor to their restaurants. Brands like McDonald's and Taco Bell are testing out AI-powered voice bots. Nearly 58% of restaurant operators expect more restaurants to utilize tech and automation to alleviate labor shortages this year, according to the 2023 State of the Restaurant Industry Report by the National Restaurant Association.
Last year Chipotle started testing the chip-making robot Chippy, which was intentionally designed to make imperfect tortilla chips. For Chippy, Chipotle partnered with Miso Robotics — the company behind burger-flipping and wing-frying robots used by White Castle and Buffalo Wild Wings.
To develop the Autocado robot, Chipotle worked with Vebu Labs, a food industry robotics startup. Currently, the robot is being tested in Chipotle's test kitchen in Irvine, California, before being deployed to its restaurants.
Chipotle is also investing in Vebu, a part of the fast food chain's $50 million Cultivate Next venture. Future investments could include farming and supply chain innovations, as well as advanced robotics, Chipotle said in a press release.