The year 2023 marked a significant turning point for Artificial Intelligence. Experiencing a global market surge of 37 per cent, AI underwent explosive and diverse growth across various sectors. Governments delved into its potential applications in infrastructure, urban planning, and disaster response. Individuals encountered AI in their smartphones, smart speakers, and fitness trackers, enhancing the ease and convenience of their lives. Meanwhile, businesses, including the food sector, harnessed its capabilities to streamline operations, automate tasks, and personalize customer experiences. Over the past year, the restaurant and food industry has witnessed truly fascinating AI innovations, reshaping the way we eat and experience food, both globally and in India.
Here’s a glimpse of the top trends:
Smart Kiosks & Voice Assistants
Forget about cumbersome touchscreens or language barriers; AI-driven kiosks and voice assistants equipped with language processing can now comprehend intricate orders, respond to inquiries, and even provide suggestions. In China, McDonald’s AI-powered kiosks comprehend Mandarin speech, handle orders, and suggest menu items based on your past choices and current weather conditions. These kiosks also offer contactless payment options utilizing facial biometrics at a financial-grade level and NFC payment capabilities.
In India, smart kiosks at certain McDonald’s outlets now enable ordering in Hindi while offering personalized recommendations. Domino’s AI kiosks assist customers in navigating through intricate pizza customizations, allowing them to specify requests such as “Add extra cheese to the pepperoni pizza and make it well done.” Although still in the pilot phase, these kiosks have been deployed in selected locations across the United States.
AI-powered chefs & kitchen automation:
Robots have evolved beyond mere burger flipping! From Flippy, the robotic arm expert in burger flipping, to robots crafting pizzas, AI is revolutionizing repetitive tasks in kitchens, liberating human chefs to focus on more creative pursuits. For example, the American Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle is experimenting with Chippy, an AI-powered robot dedicated to crafting its tortilla chips. Rebel Foods, an Indian online restaurant company managing 11 cloud kitchen brands, including popular ones like Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and Oven Story Pizza, integrates software, robotics, and automation for efficient and consistent large-scale food preparation. Among their initiatives are Visual AI QC machines capable of assessing the size, weight, appearance, and temperature of each prepared dish, determining acceptance or rejection based on specified standards.
Additionally, they employ robotic smart fryers and automated woks that handle tasks such as dispensing oil, adjusting oil temperature, dipping, and frying.
Hyper-personalised recommendations:
Envision a restaurant or app that understands your preferred dish, dietary restrictions, and even your current mood, offering tailored suggestions for restaurants and menus. AI is making this vision a reality by analyzing customer data and preferences. Created by the young Indian entrepreneur Sunil Tej and currently available in New York City and the Bay Area, Gulpie is a personal food guide app that sifts through numerous restaurants, filtering options based on your taste, preferences, dietary considerations, including allergies, specific cravings, and your friends’ reviews. You can swipe through restaurants based on the time of day, weather, and evening crowd.
The UK online food delivery store, FoodHub, provides personalized product recommendations based on the food habits of their customers, segmenting them according to previous selections, purchase cycles, and affinities. The multinational pancake house, IHOP, has become the inaugural restaurant chain to utilize Google’s Recommendation AI and BigQuery software to analyze customers’ past orders and preferred price range, recommending dishes they might enjoy.
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Predictive inventory management & food waste reduction:
AI has the capability to analyze historical sales data and forecast future demand, enabling restaurants to optimize inventory levels and minimize food waste. It’s a win-win scenario for both the restaurant and the environment! Chipotle employs a system from PreciTaste that monitors inventory levels, advising restaurants on restocking timings. The system also analyzes traffic patterns, incorporating factors like weather and local events to enhance demand forecasting.
In California, the online grocery delivery service Imperfect Foods utilizes AI to identify and purchase ‘ugly’ or misshapen produce that would otherwise be discarded by supermarkets. They then deliver these perfectly edible fruits and vegetables to customers at discounted prices, contributing to reducing food waste and offering affordable groceries.
In India, food delivery giants Zomato and Swiggy both harness AI to analyze restaurant data and predict demand for menu items, assisting restaurants in optimizing their inventories and concurrently reducing food waste, leading to cost savings. Swiggy also utilizes AI to identify restaurants with excess food approaching expiry, connecting them with NGOs and shelters to facilitate food donations to those in need.
Read Other Articles: Zomato introduces AI-powered assistant for tailored food recommendations and enhanced user experience
Artificial intelligence-powered delivery optimisation:
Bid farewell to tardy pizzas and lukewarm food—AI algorithms are now streamlining delivery routes, factoring in real-time traffic and weather conditions to guarantee quicker and more efficient food deliveries. DoorDash, the largest food delivery company in the US, employs AI algorithms to dynamically optimize delivery routes, accounting for variables such as traffic conditions, weather, and driver availability, resulting in speedier deliveries and increased customer satisfaction.
Another American restaurant ordering and delivery platform, ChowNow, utilizes AI to forecast customer orders based on past behavior and weather patterns. This enables restaurants to prep ingredients in advance, reducing wait times and enhancing delivery efficiency.
In India, BlinkIt deploys AI to optimize delivery routes and predict traffic patterns, ensuring swift deliveries for customers. They have even initiated pilot programs involving drones and robots for last-mile delivery in specific areas. Swiggy Instamart’s AI-powered grocery delivery service leverages algorithms to optimize delivery routes and warehouse operations, leading to expedited deliveries and fresher groceries for customers.
Conversational AI chatbots:
Want to secure a reservation, inquire about the menu, or address concerns about food quality? Advanced AI chatbots are playing an increasingly sophisticated role, offering round-the-clock customer service and allowing human staff to focus on other responsibilities.
Zomato’s AI chatbot assists users with tasks like order placement, delivery tracking, and query resolution. Swiggy’s AI chatbot, ‘Genie,’ facilitates hands-free grocery and food ordering through voice commands, enhancing the overall convenience of the process. Taco Bell’s TacoBot excels in answering customer queries about the menu, providing recommendations, and even processing orders via Facebook Messenger.
Read Other Articles: Swiggy employs generative AI to elevate user and restaurant experiences
Additionally, Pizza Hut’s voice-activated assistant simplifies the pizza-ordering experience by engaging in natural conversations, while also managing deliveries and redeeming rewards points.
Personalised nutrition coaching:
Attaining your health objectives is now more achievable than ever with food apps recommending meals tailored to your fitness goals and health data. The emergence of AI-powered nutrition coaching is transforming the landscape, empowering individuals to make informed dietary choices and lead healthier lives.
Noom Coach, for instance, assesses your eating habits and delivers personalized coaching to support you in achieving weight loss or fitness targets. It not only recommends meals but also monitors your progress and provides motivational encouragement, making healthy eating a more enjoyable experience.
Utilizing AI, Carb Manager tracks your macros (carbohydrates, protein, and fat) and generates customized meal plans based on your dietary requirements and objectives. The integration with grocery delivery services enhances the convenience of adopting a healthy diet. India’s digital health and wellness company, HealthifyMe, offers a range of services, including calorie tracking and guidance on nutrition and fitness through their apps, seamlessly integrated with smart wearables. Their AI nutritionist, Ria, stands as the world’s first AI-powered virtual nutritionist, leveraging insights from millions of messages, food logs, and workout data to provide personalized food recommendations, recipes, and workout routines.
Read Other Articles: HealthifyMe unveils revolutionary AI-powered feature to identify Indian dishes and track calories
Immersive dining experiences:
AI is revolutionizing dining experiences by creating interactive and immersive settings, such as virtual reality restaurants or tables that project personalized menus and animations. Recognized as the world’s smallest chef, standing at a mere 6 centimeters tall, Le Petite Chef has garnered widespread attention during its travels, featuring sold-out performances in Singapore, Dubai, London, Rome, and Delhi earlier this year.
The 1.5-hour spectacle in Delhi, hosted in a specially equipped room at Shangri-La Eros New Delhi, seamlessly blended cutting-edge 3D mapping technology with creative cuisine. The event featured a five-course classic European menu, each course intricately linked to and inspired by a specific scene in the animated story. Developed by Belgium-based Skullmapping, this groundbreaking dining experience utilizes overhead 3D projection mapping to transform your table into an immersive theatre, showcasing the captivating tale of a diminutive animated chef.