Robo Arete

Robo Arete, established in 2018, is a South Korean food technology company specializing in robotic cooking solutions for the food and beverage industry. The company was founded by Jiyoung Kang, a former venture capitalist who identified an opportunity in South Korea's burgeoning food delivery market. Her experience analyzing market trends at Fast Ventures, a venture capital firm, led her to recognize the potential for automation to address market saturation by ensuring consistent food quality. Initially intending to sell robotic systems directly to businesses, Kang realized the necessity of demonstrating their effectiveness firsthand, which prompted the launch of the company's own restaurant chain.

The company operates a dual business model. Firstly, it manufactures and sells its proprietary robotic systems to other food businesses (B2B). Secondly, it runs its own chain of fried chicken restaurants, 'Robert Chicken', which also serves as a real-world showroom for its technology. Revenue is generated from both the sale of these robotic systems and through the restaurant franchise operations. The flagship product is the 'ROBERT-E' frying robot, a system capable of automating the entire chicken frying process, including breading, battering, and frying. This system can cook up to 50 chickens per hour, a workload equivalent to about three human employees, leading to significant reductions in labor costs. The robots are managed via a cloud-based operating system, which has received NSF certification for sanitation and allows for real-time monitoring.

Robo Arete's technology enables a single person to operate a restaurant, with the robot handling the hazardous and repetitive task of deep-frying while the human staffer focuses on orders and customer service. The company has continually refined its technology, moving from floor-mounted robots to ceiling-mounted arms that can service multiple fryers, enhancing productivity. Robert Chicken has expanded from its first store in Seoul in 2020 to multiple domestic locations and has established an international presence with franchises in Singapore, Mexico, the Philippines, and a flagship store in New York City. The company supplies its robots to clients like GS Retail, BHC Chicken, and Hangry Joe's Hot Chicken, and is pursuing further global expansion.

Keywords: food robotics, kitchen automation, restaurant technology, fried chicken franchise, robotic cooking system, Jiyoung Kang, Robert Chicken, food tech, automated frying, B2B robotics, restaurant automation, Korean food tech, food service robotics, cloud-based kitchen, NSF certified robot, single-person restaurant, global food franchise, cooking robot manufacturing, food delivery automation, automated food production