CHICAGO — Diners at Sweetgreen in Willis Tower, get ready to meet the chef of the future: a robot that makes your salad to order.
The California-based chain is launching its automated Infinite Kitchen system this week at the busy Loop restaurant, putting an assembly line of robotic chefs to work preparing bowls of everything from Kale Caesar to Hummus Crunch.
Early rollouts of the technology at nearly a dozen locations nationwide have shown promising results delivering food faster — and perhaps better — by going from farm-to-machine-to-table, according to Nicolas Jammet, a co-founder and chief concept officer at Sweetgreen.
“I think the quality of the bowl, of the food, is actually better because each ingredient is held at the perfect temperature, perfect portion, perfect ratios, the greens are crisper,” Jammet said. “I actually think it’s a more consistent experience.”
The proprietary technology, which looks like something out of “The Jetsons” — sans the flying cars — features a series of machines that dispense and mix salad ingredients in a bowl traveling along an assembly line. Human sous chefs keep the machines filled and finish the salad with everything from a squeeze of lemon, fresh basil or a salmon filet, based on the order.
Chicago has been something of a testing ground for Sweetgreen, with the first automated kitchen opening last year at a new restaurant in west suburban Naperville, Illinois.
One of the busiest Sweetgreen locations in the Chicago area, the retrofitted Willis Tower restaurant has been expanded by 40% with a 1,000-square-foot addition to accommodate the robotic system. The traditional salad line, where diners point at their ingredients and humans serve it up, will remain open side-by-side with the new automated one, Jammet said.
The inaugural Infinite Kitchens have all been fully automated — from ordering to food preparation. Willis Tower is the 11th Sweetgreen restaurant to adopt the technology nationwide and the…
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