Artificial intelligence (AI) is the driving force behind an unprecedented wave of automation that is reshaping how commercial kitchens operate. In the past ten years, it has given rise to innovations that have since set the tone for what the kitchen of the future will look like.
Burger-cooking robot Flippy caught the headlines back in 2017, giving the world a glimpse of how AI-driven robotics might play a role in automating simple tasks. Its AI-enabled computer vision can identify burger patties on a grill, track their temperature, and flip them at the right time to deliver consistent quality. At a time when even unskilled labor is in short supply, this kind of automation catches the eye.
Shortly after Flippy made its debut, AI started to play a key role in food waste management, with Winnow’s Vision range among the early examples of systems that used computer vision and machine learning to classify food that was being thrown away, create waste logs, and give chefs the data they needed to make changes to their purchasing and production processes.
Now the technology is finding its way into ordering systems, with facial recognition to identify repeat customers, quality assurance using AI-enabled cameras and smart scanners, and hot-side equipment. The advance of AI seems unstoppable – but are operators ready to embrace it, and do they know where to make the smartest investments?
The AI divide
Societal attitudes to AI can be very polarized. Some see it as an indispensable tool that will bring in unprecedented improvements in the quality of human life, while others fear it will be so disruptive that it will destroy industries and wreck the global economy. In the commercial foodservice sector, the number of AI evangelists is growing fast.
“I call AI a new sous chef,” says Mark Reynolds, regional head chef at Levy UK & Ireland, and national chairman of Craft Guild of Chefs. “It is a positive influence. It will do the jobs chefs don’t enjoy,” he adds.
“We used it this morning for purchasing our meat because it allows us to get accurate information about how the kitchen is operating,” he says from his base at the stadium of Tottenham Hotspur FC, where he is executive head chef. “We use it to save on food waste, but we also use it to understand where customers are going in the stadium, how many pies to make, and how to create staff rotas more effectively.”
Reynolds has also been impressed by demonstrations of ovens that, when loaded with different vegetables, can recognize what is on the trays and automatically adjust times and temperature to ensure everything is perfectly prepared and ready at the same time.
Smart ovens, including new models from Unox and Rational, use internal cameras and sensors to identify ingredients and automatically adjust temperature, humidity, and timers. A growing number of robots are coming to market that can stir fry, sauté, cook pasta or handle multiple cooking functions. One example is TechMagic’s P-Robo, an automated cooking robot famously used in pasta restaurants like E PRONTO in Tokyo, that relies on AI-driven systems to autonomously prepare sauces, heat noodles, and more.
“AI is useful for kitchens that work regularly on the same tasks, like a canteen or hospital, though perhaps not high-end restaurants that frequently change their menu,” says Primož Černigoj FCSI at Slovenia-based consultancy PROprima. “At a time of labor shortage, AI helps solve that problem by handling repetitive work.”
For Černigoj, AI will come to play a bigger role in performing everyday tasks in the kitchen, and will have a major impact on efficiency and sustainability. Using AI-enabled cameras to measure the quantity of organic waste is a big step towards waste reduction, efficient purchasing strategies and, therefore, cost savings. “Everyone will have that in the next few years,” he believes.
He also foresees a greater role for AI in estimating the number of guests per day by analyzing historical data and predicting the impact of weather or the influence of local sports or cultural events on certain days.
“These calculations are very good,” he reports. “In one restaurant that serves simple Slovenian food and produces around 800 meals, the algorithm made only one small mistake in predicting the number of guests for its Friday and Saturday events. And it learns all the time, so more data equals more precision, which leads to savings in waste and cost.”
A central role in the smart kitchen
Andrey Teleguz FCSI, principal at US-based Scopos Hospitality Group, has also embraced AI. A new division within his company, the Innovation & Technology Lab (ITL), develops AI-based solutions for his clients, and a separate new business – OpLytics, which stands for Operational Analytics – is built around AI for commercial kitchens.
“Imagine mapping out a full day of traffic in a busy kitchen, tracking all steps from the walk-in cooler to food prep, to the cookline, to service, to dishwashing,” he says. “You will see where people bump into each other, how many steps a function takes, where the bottlenecks are. Track everything with AI cameras, process all of the movement, then layout and staffing decisions can be made on a more informed basis.”
Jimmy Wong FCSI, managing director of Hong Kong-based Orange Design, confirms that AI is having a seismic impact the world over, noting that AI-enabled equipment is widely used locally to improve operational efficiency. For example, the Botinkit Omni – heralded by its manufacturer as the future of sushi making – is an AI-powered wok that automates cooking, seasoning, and temperature control.
Wong also reports that mainland China’s robotic chefs and servers have reduced labor costs by 25% and increased serving speed by 18%.
“AI is transforming Asia’s foodservice industry, particularly in Hong Kong and mainland China,” he explains. “Driven by labor shortages, rising costs, and heightened food safety requirements, AI adoption in commercial kitchens has accelerated. AI is reshaping operations, supply chains, and sustainability strategies. Adoption has moved beyond experimentation into large‑scale deployment. It is now a strategic pillar for competitiveness in Asia’s foodservice industry, and it will define the next decade of restaurant innovation and efficiency.”
One voice from even further afield – Stuart Robertson FCSI, hospitality consultant and owner of Mean Business, who is based in Auckland, New Zealand – nevertheless believes that the hot side is not where AI will make the biggest difference, at least for now.
“Restaurants run on revenue and costs, and food is roughly 30% of overall cost, so any saving is significant,” he says. “AI is used most regularly in documenting recipe costs and integrating that with POS data to identify savings and reduce food wastage. Rather than putting all invoices into an accounting system, you can put them into AI systems that show what has been ordered, highlight any detected wastage, and streamline ordering and food outputs.”
“With labor costs, smart rostering evaluates the experience of staff members and their costs, optimizing that to ensure the best team is available,” he adds. “Also, using AI to scan CVs or job applications and shortlist applicants takes out a lot of time from the recruitment process.”
A crucial role for consultants
Today, AI is simply part of the conversation with any foodservice operation, so consultants need to be able to address operators’ concerns and answer their questions.
“Most clients don’t know how AI could help them in the real world so we, as planners, have to educate them and explain what is possible,” says Černigoj.
“It is on everyone’s radar but the industry is slow to embrace it, particularly in the kitchen,” adds Robertson. “In the future, AI will solve many problems, and it will mainly influence back-of-house aspects like managing cost and revenue. So many AI functions can integrate with one another but that is slow to happen, and operators are often just too distracted by the day-to-day running of a restaurant business to understand it.”
Consultants seem eager to highlight the advantages AI can bring, and urge operators to look at how it can benefit them in many different ways. “I have no concerns,” says Reynolds. “We have to embrace it. It is a partnership between humans and technology. We are looking at robots using AI to handle repetitive tasks, and the technology will continue to evolve. It is already part of many kitchen operations.”
Yet they must also look carefully at how it could change not only how kitchens operate, but how they are designed. “Maybe I will lose my job one day,” jokes Černigoj. “AI could do planning and design. We already have software that can do the render from a simple sketch and specifications of materials. You come up against issues of accountability – someone has to take responsibility for creating and signing off on the design – but it is coming, and if you use it the right way it will make your work easier and better.”
AI is creating new capabilities for hot-side equipment, but could also affect the choice of hot-side equipment in a kitchen, as it finds its way into the design process and provides insight on how equipment selection impacts workflow, service, cook times and other key parameters. If one thing is certain it is that the genie is out of the bottle, so operators and consultants alike must embrace the future and find the sweet spot where human creativity and AI-driven efficiency meet.
Jim Banks
