Catering facilities at Home World charging park in Wertheim provides customers with meals from the robotic kitchen of German start-up Goodbytz. Customers select their meals via touchscreen at a self-ordering terminal from specialist provider Smoothr, where they can make cashless payments using all common methods. The kitchen robot can prepare up to 130 dishes per hour.
The range currently includes six exclusively vegetarian and vegan dishes as well as a children’s meal. With 160 charging points in future, the location on the A3 motorway in the immediate vicinity of the Wertheim Village outlet centre is one of the largest charging parks in Germany. On average, 10,000 visitors shop in more than 100 stores at Wertheim Village every day.
The catering concept for the park was developed by nutrition expert and celebrity chef Holger Stromberg, who is also one of the partners in operating company Home Hospitality. In addition to the robot-operated kitchen, a bistro café and a kitchen isle called Living Kitchen, where an employee prepares sandwiches, cater for the physical well-being of up to 200 guests. The kitchen robot in Wertheim does not work around the clock, as someone must be on site to aid in the event of any technical slips.
Automated kitchen assistant facilitates new catering concepts
In trade magazine Foodservice, Stromberg describes the automated kitchen assistant as the future of catering. In times of a shortage of skilled labour, the few well-trained staff could devote themselves to other important tasks in the kitchen and in service. He adds another advantage: ‘As a chef, I can simply save my recipes and thus, in a way, immortalise them for all time.’
The Goodbytz kitchen robot has a modular design. The system stores ingredients in a storage module with 48 or, in the high-volume configuration, 72 loading slots. Its cooking module prepares dishes in eight cooking zones. With 24 loading slots, the topping module can add further raw ingredients. The Output & Serving module is responsible for arranging the food on plates or bowls. The system also integrates a dishwasher and an air filter system.
With its Robotic Kitchen, the technology provider promises to be able to produce food of a consistently high quality and hygienically flawless. The system is said to be able to prepare up to 3,000 dishes per day with minimal labour. It achieves this using precise scales and with the help of analytical software tools, which also ensure that as little food as possible must be destroyed.
Business model is scalable
Goodbytz software allows users to manage their own cooking instructions and recipes. Users can create customised loading plans for the storage modules according to different times and cooking styles. If a slot becomes empty, the software automatically issues a warning. However, ingredients must be loaded into the machine in correct shapes and sizes. These can be obtained from production companies in the required form.
For operators who do not want to develop their own concepts, the Goodbytz platform offers a range of versatile food concepts. The system makes it possible to roll out recipes company-wide and ensure consistent quality at all locations. Holger Stromberg wants to roll out his concept further with his Home Hospitality partners, as he reported to Foodservice magazine.
