Rewe Markt GmbH’s region West has announced an exclusive pilot partnership with the young robotics start-up Circus. From fall 2025, the retail company plans to test the technology provider’s autonomous kitchen robot Circus Autonomy One (CA-1) in three selected stores – including cloud-based control software and a self-service terminal. Rewe intends to test the cooking robots in real store operations and gain insights into customer acceptance, technical performance and operational feasibility.
Hamburg-based company’s CA-1 prepares meals fully automatically at the touch of a button. Following the takeover of robotics start-up Aitme in summer 2023, Circus relaunched the system with revised software. Originally developed for the food service industry, CA-1 is now to be tested in grocery retail for the first time.
During the eight-month pilot phase, Rewe’s region West wants to test customer satisfaction, technical performance and the cost-effectiveness of the solution in daily store operations. If the pilot is successful, this could pave the way for wider use of the technology in other stores. “The partnership with Circus is an important step towards innovation in food retail,” says Lars Klein, CEO of Rewe West. “We want to offer our customers a cutting-edge shopping experience.”
Intelligent technology for express catering
The CA-1 is a fully automated, modular kitchen ecosystem that prepares a variety of fresh meals at four cooking stations on just 6.6 square meters. Circus’ cooking robot takes three to four minutes per dish. The system is controlled by the customers via a digital ordering terminal. Thanks to AI-supported software, CA-1 ensures precise control of cooking times and serving processes. Eight individually heated pick-up stations keep the ordered dishes ready for the guests. The maximum of 36 different ingredients are kept fresh in an integrated cooling system for up to 500 dishes per filling. According to the manufacturer, Rewe’s store employees will have to invest around one hour a day in filling, maintaining and cleaning each robot.
Rewe’s store team will receive real-time status updates and performance analysis via the cloud-based Circus Software Suite. The retailer’s staff will be able to monitor the robot’s operation, change recipes and track ingredient consumption via the platform. Using a dashboard, store employees can also choose menus – also AI-generated – that match the season, current trends and customer preferences at the location. Store employees are also alerted when the robot is due for maintenance and cleaning work.
Robotics for the care sector too
In addition to Rewe, the operator of the German capital’s airport Berlin Brandenburg also signed a letter of intent in summer 2024 to use the cooking robot from Circus. In December 2024, the Hamburg-based technology company also announced that it would be allowed to install fully autonomous cooking robots in care facilities such as those run by Diakonie for the nutrition of people in need of care.
