Chipotle Mexican Grill has long touted its guacamole made by hand in restaurants, but the laborious process of peeling and scooping avocados is often cited as a pain point for employees.
Now a robot—or actually a “cobot,” or collaborative robot—could be called in to help.
The Newport Beach, Calif.-based chain on Wednesday said it will test an avocado processing cobotic prototype called the Autocado which cuts, cores and peels avocados. The system was developed in collaboration with robotics company Vebu.
And, in addition to testing the new prototype, Chipotle is also investing in Vebu through the chain’s $50 million Cultivate Next venture fund. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the move follows similar investments in other tech-based innovations, including Hyphen, which is developing an automated makeline for Chipotle.
And in another attempt to automate a task disliked by workers, Chipotle is also testing a tortilla-frying robot developed by Miso Robotics, named Chippy, designed to free team members from standing over a hot fryer.
The chain is also testing in 10 restaurants new clamshell grills designed to reduce the cooking time for chicken from about 13 minutes to two to three minutes.
In the chain’s second-quarter earnings call in April, CEO Brian Niccol had hinted that more “exciting initiatives” to make prep easier were coming, including help with cleaning avocados.
Guacamole making at Chipotle takes time. The company estimates each batch takes about 50 minutes to make, on average, and the chain this year is expected to go through about 4.5 million cases of avocados, or roughly 100 million pounds of the fruit.
But with the Autocado helping with the peeling and coring, prep time could be cut in half, the company said.
The Autocado can be loaded with up to 25 pounds of ripe avocados. One at a time, the avocados are vertically oriented and transferred to a processing device that slices each in half and peels the skin, collecting the fruit in a stainless-steel bowl.
At that point, team members can remove the bowl to hand mash and add the spices and other ingredients for the guacamole.
Here's how it works:
Chipotle contends that the cobotic system peels avocados more precisely, which could result in better fruit yield and a reduction in food waste, as well as potentially saving the company millions in annual food costs if the system can be deployed widely.
“We are committed to exploring collaborative robotics to drive efficiencies and ease pain points for our employees,” said Curt Garner, Chipotle’s chief custom and technology officer, in a statement. “The intensive labor of cutting, coring and scooping avocados could be relieved with Autocado, but we still maintain the essential culinary experience of hand mashing and hand preparing the guacamole to our exacting standards.”
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.