• by Teresa Buyikian , October 3, 2023

Chipotle today announced the global chain is testing a new automated digital makeline -- the display of menu ingredients from which customers choose their dishes -- at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, California.

It’s not exactly as ifrobots will be making your food in front of you. Chipotle team members will still make burritos, tacos and quesadillas as you move down the line and select your usual options. But salads and bowls will be assembled out of sight below the counter via an automated system that moves the entrées through the bottom makeline where ingredients are automatically dispensed.

So basically yes, robots will be making some of your food. If it were a smaller chain, one could say this displaces workers and changes the in-store experience. But this is Chipotle, which employs well over 100,000 people in its 3,250 locations, with June 2023 visits per venue 8.4% higher than in June 2022, according to a recent report from Placer.ai.

The report goes on to say that Chipotle has also leaned into takeaway. Of around 250 stores opened this year, all but 34 had Chipotlane (drive thru) windows, which are entirely powered by customer orders via the Chipotle app.

Earlier this year the chain had already introduced the Autocado, an avocado processing cobotic (collaborative robot) prototype that cuts, cores and peels avocados before they are mashed to create guacamole. So if any QSR is going to (further) automate, it will probably be Chipotle.

About 65% of all Chipotle digital orders are bowls or salads, which is why the chain selected these for automation. The new cobotic “has the potential to free up more time for employees to service the front makeline and deliver exceptional hospitality, while simultaneously increasing capacity for digital orders during peak periods,” according to the company.

And we have to admit, the new digital makeline, designed in collaboration with foodservice automation platform Hyphen, is incredibly cool.

Here’s how the system works: After the customer places an order on the Chipotle app, at Chipotle.com or on any third-party platform, bowl or salad orders are routed to Hyphen’s automated system. The bowl or salad travels along the bottom makeline and positions itself under specified ingredient containers. The intelligent dispensers portion each ingredient into the bowl. If the order included burritos, tacos, quesadillas, or kid’s meals, a Chipotle team member would use the top makeline to create those entrées.

The completed bowl or salad then ends its automated journey by rising through an opening in the countertop at the end of the upper makeline, where Chipotle team members place a lid on the entrée and add any final items such as chips, side salsas or guacamole.

The system is being tested at the chain's state-of-the-art test kitchen and design lab -- but it probably won’t take long for the cobotic to make its way to Chipotles across the country.