5 tech things: Robotic health food restaurant opens in New York City

In this special edition of its 5 Things series, Food Management highlights five recent technology-related developments affecting the foodservice world.

Here’s your list for today:

 1.    Robotic health food restaurant opens in New York City

Spanish foodservice robotics company Remy Robotics just debuted Better Days, a health-focused, fast-fine restaurant in New York City that uses the company’s robotics platform to power the delivery-focused restaurant. The result is a human-free storefront where humans prep the menu off-site and then deliver it to the automated restaurants for robot arms to finish the job in a spin on the hub and spoke operations model.

Read more: Remy Robotics debuts a new type of robot-run restaurant in New York City called Better Days

2.    Florida Chick-fil-A offers drone delivery

A Chick-fil-A location near Tampa now offers drone delivery Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. within a 1.2-mile radius. To offer the service, the restaurant partnered with DroneUp, a Virginia-based company that also works with retailers, launching a similar delivery option at select Walmart stores in the Tampa and Orlando areas in December 2022.

Read more: Florida Chick-fil-A location now offers drone delivery

3.    Oak View Group partners with Oracle for contactless f&b order and payment

Related:5 things: Compass North America saw 17.4% revenue increase in fiscal 2023

Sports and live entertainment venue development firm Oak View Group (OVG) has announced a partnership with Oracle to deploy its MICROS Simphony Cloud and Payments Cloud Service in its owned and operated arenas, with rollout to its global portfolio of arenas, stadiums and event venues over the next several months. The solution will deliver flexible configurations for food and beverage offerings and give fans an omnichannel order and pay experience. Through the new partnership, all OVG Hospitality partners will offer contactless pay options, such as debit/credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

Read more: Oak View Group Partners with Oracle to Supercharge Fan Experiences at Sports and Live Entertainment Venues

4.    Elementary students grow hydroponic lettuce for school cafeteria

MLK Elementary in Youngstown, Ohio has been growing fresh greens in the school’s new hydroponic farms funded by a $95,000 grant that has produced almost 20 of these farms across the district. At MLK Elementary, the lettuce was grown indoors with water and without dirt while students learn agriculture, nutrition and science and the lettuce helps stock the school's salad bar.

Read more: Lettuce grown by students will be in lunchroom

Related:5 things: Aramark launches video series to promote K-8 nutrition

5.    Ivy League dining goes viral on TikTok

Social media has produced some strange subcultures, one of which is the growing cult of Ivy League food voyeurism. A growing phenomenon on the TikTok platform is videos of meticulously arranged meals and stylish dining hall surroundings in places like Harvard and Yale, glimpses of which previously had been unavailable to few not associated with those schools.

Read more: The strange allure of Ivy League cafeteria TikTok

Bonus: Walk Thru Bru outlets brew increased beer sales for Aramark at NFL stadiums

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]