In 2017, about a year after its founding, Miso Robotics unveiled Flippy, an AI-powered robot arm that could flip burger patties before nestling them in buns. The machine would go on to work alongside short-order cooks at CaliBurger, Jack in the Box, and White Castle.
Two years later, a Flippy Fry Station—equipped with fry baskets instead of just a spatula—debuted at Dodger Stadium and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field to deep-fry 31,000 pounds of chicken tenders and Tater Tots for baseball fans. An updated third-generation robot is now able to fry and portion more than 40 menu items and reduce staff interactions with the machinery by 90%. According to company filings, Miso sees a potential $4 billion revenue opportunity with Flippy’s automation tools.
“He just does it twice as fast, and he does it perfect every time,” Miso Robotics CEO Rich Hull told Fortune. “And he never comes in sick and doesn’t take a smoke break.”
The emergence of Miso Robotics comes as the global restaurant automation market is expected to grow to $28 billion this year. Robots are now able to make fried rice and pasta in a wok, prepare salads, and cut and core avocados used to make Chipotle’s guacamole.
Miso has continued to expand its own operations. It finalized the acquisition of Zignyl, an AI-powered restaurant operations system, at the beginning of the year, the company told Fortune exclusively. The integration of Zignyl will allow restaurant operators to essentially run Flippy, as well as point-of-sales systems, labor scheduling, and payroll, through an app. Miso did not disclose the details of the deal.
