Have you ever wondered what would happen if a robot met a ghost? No, this isn’t a description of the latest Marvel movie. It’s the latest announcement from Richtech Robotics, which has agreed to become a franchisee of Ghost Kitchens America, which operates in-store restaurants inside Walmart locations.
Richtech Robotics already operates a beverage-serving robot called ADAM, which uses robotic arms to prepare drinks at two Walmart locations, including one in Illinois.
This expansion makes Richtech a bona fide stand-alone franchisee, running these locations through AlphaMax Management, a Richtech subsidiary, and deploying robotics and AI cloud technology to optimize operations.
Matt Casella, president of Richtech Robotics
“We originally agreed to bring in our ADAM robot to fulfill coffee and Boba tea for our beverage solution in these locations but we’ve taken it a step further and are going to own and operate these locations ourselves in Texas, Arizona, and Colorado,” said Matt Casella, president of Richtech Robotics, in an interview. “These are high-traffic, high volume stores, and eyeballs for us are important for our robots.”
Casella feels his company is well-positioned to participate in what he expects to be a coming boom in restaurant automation.
“It’s going to take many forms. Some automation will be tucked away in the back of the house so no customer will see it. Some of it, like ours, will be up front and part of the experience that the customer enjoys when they visit these restaurants,” he said.
As logic would assume when partnering with a company called Ghost Kitchens, the menu at the Walmart locations will be items licensed from existing restaurant companies. They will include dishes from Nathan’s Hot Dogs, the Cheesecake Factory, and MrBeast Burgers.
“We will be operating a food court under one roof,” Casella said.
Richtech robots, which Casella calls cobots, for collaborative robots, are meant to work with and amongst people. These cobots include one called Matradee, which delivers food from a kitchen out to the dining room and carries bus tubs back to the kitchen to be cleaned. And there will be ADAM roaming around delivering drinks. There will still in most cases be human colleagues helping direct traffic but Richtech handles most of the automated staffing.
“Our robots are meant to enhance efficiency but also allow operators to increase revenue,” he says. “We think we can show how that’s done by operating these restaurants ourselves.”
