Recently, Miso Robotics, a startup building robots for restaurants, announced a crowdfunding round to scale beyond fast food into the entire restaurant ecosystem. In perusing through the documents, I started thinking about how robotics will make their way into restaurants, as that will be much sooner than other forms of retail. I have many thoughts on where this will go, but first, let’s dive into the history of Miso Robotics (and Flippy) and see how we got here:

2016 - Miso Robotics is founded by Buck Jordan, David D. Zito, Robert Anderson, and Ryan Sinnet

2017 - Miso raises a $3M Series A and announces Flippy (depicted above), an AI‑powered robotic arm designed to flip burgers on a grill, using computer vision and thermal‑safety logic to track patties and manage cook times

2018 - Flippy has a commercial pilot in Pasadena, California, at a CaliBurger and raises a $10M Series A

2019 - Flippy is expanded to operate a full fry-station, capable of monitoring oil temperature, basket timing, and food quality

2020 - White Castle, fast food burger place, starts rolling out the fryer station

2021 - Flippy is expanded to Flippy Wings, a specialized product line focused on automating chicken‑wing frying and preparation, and raises a Series C, Series D, and crowdfunding (the first time)

2022 - Miso expands partnership with White Castle, secured a partnership with Inspire Brands (owner of Arby’s, Baskin‑Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Dunkin’), and raised a Series E

2025 - Miso launched a next‑generation Flippy Fry Station, which is roughly half the size, twice the speed, and can be installed overnight in existing kitchens

As highlighted in the timeline, Miso Robotics has raised ~$100M, partnered with some leading fast food brands, developed technology to fit a variety of cooking methods, and deployed the technology into several pilots. That brings us to today, where Miso is trying to raise additional capital to roll out beyond fast food. The raise had a lot of interesting information, and here is what stood out to me:

Overall, Miso has spent a lot of money to make some cool technology, but unfortunately, the market has not opted for this technology. What has happened here is very much in line with my POV for restaurant robotics. The average restaurant does not need advanced humanoid machines; they need the next generation of appliances, which will have more AI, computer vision, and robotics incorporated. Cobots, not robots. You need an oven that cooks the burgers better, not a humanoid robot to flip the burgers. I think companies like Kaikaku are more equipped to handle the cobots and better technology in the kitchen. Another startup I can’t remember the name build a smart fry top, augmenting humans to make sure meat is cooked perfectly. The advanced robotics are just too expensive and not efficient enough. I think this has been figured out in manufacturing for a while. At scale, it makes sense to really integrate robotics, but at the micro level, the payoff isn’t really there. There is a reason your car was mostly made by robots, and it is fixed by humans. There are plenty of ways technology can help humans better handle the micro-level, but I do not see the payoff being there for full-scale robotics. One interesting final thought - I wonder how robotics will be incorporated in the food prep ingredients throughout the supply chain. Would a food distributor, like a Sysco, now just do all the ingredient prep, like chopping onions and peppers, daily at a central hub utilizing robotics, and then send them out to restaurants?

What do you think? How will robotics be incorporated into restaurants? Will humans no longer work in restaurants?

Late in 2024, Taco Bell debuted the Taco Bell Cafe in San Diego. It is a new beverage concept featuring specialty drinks like Chillers, Agua Refrescas, coffees, and more, alongside traditional Taco Bell menu items. The goal is to compete with the existing beverage restaurants, like what McDonald’s was doing with CosMc’s and some of the other restaurants, like 7BRew and Dutch Bros. The initial pilot went so well that the company ended up opening 31 locations last year, scattered across California, Texas, and Las Vegas. This opening surpassed the goal of 30 locations. Taco Bell is trying to accelerate overall sales by having a robust beverage program. The goal is $5B in beverage sales by 2030 and to have a cafe in every Taco Bell. As discussed in Issue #78, outlining the year, I predicted that beverages and all-day breakfast would be a big growth area, and it’s exciting to see Taco Bell focus here.

It is no secret that Amazon has been trying to nail grocery for a long time. In 2017, it purchased Whole Foods, and has slowly struggled to integrate it into the broader business. Along the way, Amazon launched many Amazon-branded grocery initiatives, like Amazon Fresh, an Amazon grocery store, and Amazon Go, an Amazon convenience store. This week, that all changed, when Amazon announced a major shift to its grocery strategy. Here is a breakdown:

There are many takeaways that can be learned from this pivot, but ultimately, it seems that Amazon has realized they need to give some love back to Whole Foods. Amazon is going to keep trying to make grocery work, they just realized the current strategies were not meeting their needs. It will be interesting to follow along and see what other changes happen.

Jersey Mike’s is a fast-food sandwich restaurant and a big part of the reason Subway has been going through its struggles over the last ten or so years. In 2024, Jersey Mike’s was sold to Blackstone for $8B. For more details/a refresher on what happened, check out Issue #27. Since then, the company has been rapidly expanding and growing. Now, an IPO is on the horizon. Jersey Mike's is working with Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan on an IPO, seeking a $12B+ valuation. The plan would be to IPO in Q3 2026 and raise $1B. 50% growth in less than two years, not too shabby. This quick turnaround is an anomaly in the PE world, where the average holding period is almost six years. So why IPO so fast? First off, Blackstone clearly sees a window of opportunity to get a return. Plus, I am not sure what other investments are in the fund, but there is a lack of liquidity writ large in the investment world, so many investors need liquidity wherever they can find it. Second, Jersey Mike’s sees an opportunity to grow both in the United States and internationally (they just inked a UK and Ireland deal). Expansion is not cheap, and they will need capital to fuel it. It will be interesting to follow along regardless. I believe this will be the first major retail IPO since Cava, if it goes through.

Since Brian Niccol took over, Starbucks has been looking for ways to improve its offering. One of the most popular parts of Starbucks is the rewards program. Starbucks decided to make it more expensive for its most loyal members. Here is a great Reddit breakdown of the value of the program, but I believe it is missing the context that not everyone is searching for coffee based on the rewards program. The goal of this new program is to reward existing customers, not necessarily attract new ones (or hopefully it is otherwise, Starbucks may be in trouble).

Here is a breakdown of the program:

Overall, it will be interesting to see how this progresses. What do you think? Is it worth it?

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