Of the technologies that will shape the experience economy in foodservice in the years ahead, some may create a flash and then fade, while others will endure. Here are eight examples that might just change the game.
Advanced robotics
Behind the scenes, robotic chefs are increasingly taking on food prep tasks, but the advanced sensors and dynamic vision capability on which they rely to deliver consistency are also empowering robots to handle more complex roles. Robots are increasingly involved in customer-facing roles – Chili’s and Denny’s use Bear Robotics systems for food delivery to tables and bussing dirty dishes. IHOP and Kura Sushi are using the Pudu BellaBot, and the KEENON DinerBot T10 is finding its place in restaurant
and hospitality service. Robot bartenders are becoming a familiar sight in Las Vegas – The Tipsy Robot on the Strip is a popular destination – but they are already spreading across the US.
Bio-printing and synthetic foods
The ability to customize a meal to a diner’s specific nutritional or biometric needs in real time is something diners could return time and again to experience. Revolutionary technologies such as 3D food printing could enable restaurants to create bespoke meal components – particularly proteins – to suit the customer. The technology has already been used effectively, and the first pop-up restaurant to serve exclusively 3D-printed food was opened at Villa Flora in Venlo, the Netherlands, back in 2016. Now, using the same byFlow Focus printers, which can print food pastes and thick ingredients including purees, doughs, and chocolate, a bespoke plating experience is becoming a feature in high-end restaurants such as Spain’s Michelin-starred La Boscana. Extending this technology to create customized burgers, for example, could be a revolutionary next step.
Biometrics
Biometric technology relies on the measurement of unique physical and behavioral characteristics. It has become commonplace in facial recognition or fingerprint recognition as security measures on devices, but it could have many uses in creating unique dining experiences. Similar to its use as a security tool,
fingerprints could be used to unlock exclusive menu items, games or other information. Facial recognition could be used to monitor a diner’s facial expressions to interpret emotions and adjust the dining environment by changing lighting, music, or the menu in response to their mood. Ultraviolet in Shanghai is already putting technology in the hands of guests that allows them to influence the lighting, soundtrack, and even ambient scents, so linking that capability to biometrics to automate the process could be the next step. In the future, tables may scan biometrics as guests sit down to define dynamic animations and nutritional data that are projected onto their plates to guide them through courses adjusted in real-time to meet their specific dietary needs.
Extended Reality (XR)
Sublimotion in Ibiza, Spain, is often cited as a prime example of how a highly engineered dining experience with virtual reality (VR) at its core can redefine the guest experience. There, VR headsets are used to immerse diners in their choice of digital environment, which could be anything from the ocean floor to outer space, as they dine. Extended Reality (XR) is the next step into multi-sensory dining.
VR could be integrated with scent cartridges, LED lighting, and even electrical or thermal stimulation on the tongue. Researchers at the National University of Singapore have designed a digital lollipop, which stimulates the tongue to simulate sweetness, sourness, and spiciness without the need for actual sugar or spice. Wearable technologies such as face-worn kinaesthetic feedback devices and electromagnetic pumps could enable diners to experience the mechanical properties and flavor profiles of eating certain foods remotely, so that they could digitally taste and chew food in virtual environments.
Digital commensality
The term digital commensality refers to the act of sharing a meal with other people while physically separated. Technology bridges the gap in distance by creating a shared virtual space where people can benefit from the social and emotional bonds of traditional dining. This idea of eating together alone is enabled by sensors, and volumetric video to project remote guests directly into your physical dining room or a virtual table. Mixed reality dining builds on this principle using mixed reality or passthrough headsets that allow a person to see their physical plate and glass while rendering digital avatars of remote friends sitting across the table. Foodservice operators can tap into this experience by delivering food from the same menu to each diner in a coordinated way to allow everyone to eat at the same time.
Sensory design
Kitchen Theory in London has taken the lead in creating a multi-sensory dining. Extended Reality plays with the concept of sensory design, but there is a broad canvas here that can be used in different degrees to enhance the dining experience or become the centerpiece of a diner’s restaurant visit. Scent diffusion plays on the fact that smell is closely connected to taste through the olfactory system, and diffusers that release customized scents to match the visual and flavor profiles of each dish can enhance the flavor experience.
Touch-sensitive and haptic technology
Haptic technologies simulate the sense of touch through forces, vibrations, or motions. The clicking or vibration as someone types a text message on the digital keys of their phone are haptics in action. Haptics bridge the gap between physical and digital environments, and the tactile systems used to enhance immersion in gaming and VR can be used to great effect in the dining experience to elevate multi-sensory immersion. In dining, guests touch things long before they taste the food – the feel of cutlery in their hands, the shape of a wine glass, the texture of a napkin – and studies have shown a direct link between these sensations and the perception of flavor. Some immersive restaurants at the very leading edge of technology implementation are even using tables and tables that vibrate in response to music, lighting, or a specific course in the meal, taking haptic input to the next level. Some – notably
Sublimotion in Ibiza – are even experimenting with wearables, including gloves that transmit simulated texture and allow diners to physically ‘feel’ the virtual environments with which they are interacting.
AR and projection maping
With immersive audio, lighting design and scent diffusion, the multisensory experience is certainly coming to the fore, but human beings are very visual creatures, so visual overlays using augmented reality (AR) and projection mapping may well be the most memorable part of any tailored dining experience in the future. Walls and tables are no longer home to static visuals, but become moving interactive surfaces that can change during a meal. Seven Paintings in Abu Dhabi, for example, uses projections to create an artistic culinary journey inspired by seven masterpiece paintings, each accompanying a specific course. The art and the food combine to tell a story. This type of technology is only just revealing its full potential but already it can be used in many practical ways. One simple example is that of a salad course, that displays blooming flowers beneath a plate.
Jim Banks
