At the new Sweetgreen restaurant on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, orders are completed quickly with a remarkable level of portion consistency. This efficiency comes courtesy of Sweetgreen’s sophisticated automation solution—the “Infinite Kitchen.” This large stainless steel and glass unit is complemented by a team of human workers in the restaurant, which sits at the corner of 11th Avenue and East Pine Street, having opened its doors on Tuesday.
Spanning 2,500 square feet, this is Sweetgreen’s third Seattle outlet among its more than 230 nationwide. However, it’s only the eighth location to utilize this in-house developed technology by the 18-year-old restaurant chain.
“We love it,” expressed Timothy Noonan, Sweetgreen’s SVP of Operations Innovation and Services. “We’re still learning how to best integrate it into our designs and construction to enhance the customer experience. Given our strong belief in this technology, we’re planning to incorporate it into more new restaurant openings and exploring retrofit avenues.”
Many restaurants are venturing into robotics and automation for tasks like burger flipping and ingredient layering on pizzas. A Wall Street Journal report from July discussed how escalating labor costs have driven chains, Sweetgreen included, to seriously consider such technology.
Noonan highlighted the Infinite Kitchen’s capability to produce 500 orders in an hour.
But beyond speed, efficiency, and cost savings, Cody Fessel, a regional leader at Sweetgreen, noted the robot enriches the work quality for employees.
“It alleviates the repetitive task of bowl construction,” Fessel stated. “While it might be challenging to find passion in that aspect, employee enthusiasm persists in hospitality and culinary arts. That enthusiasm is precisely what we’re fostering here.”
How it works
Customers can place orders for salads, grain bowls, or protein plates either through Sweetgreen’s app or using touchscreen tablets stationed at the counter. The menu is customizable, allowing patrons to modify ingredients or request dressing on the side.
Once submitted, meals are queued up for the Infinite Kitchen. A human worker positions the respective container within the assigned slot on a “smart track,” guiding the bowl through the system. More than 40 dispensers release ingredients into the bowl, tailored to the exact order requirements.
Throughout its journey, the bowl rotates and spins at certain stages to ensure even distribution of ingredients, including sauces. Observe the Infinite Kitchen in operation at its debut location in Illinois via this YouTube video:
In the Capitol Hill location, the system is arranged in a square to expose only a portion of the ingredient bays to customers, unlike other linear setups.
At the heart of the machine, staff are tasked with replenishing ingredients like fresh chicken, kale, and rice. Meanwhile, another station exists for tasks like mixing dressings by hand for customers preferring their salad unmixed, or adding delicate herbs such as cilantro, which can’t be processed by the machine.
A large screen monitors ingredient levels in each bay, informing staff about the number of orders that can be fulfilled before restocking is required.
Elsewhere in the 22-person restaurant, additional cooking processes continue—chopping kale, roasting chicken, and slicing tomatoes are all done in-house.
Orders are typically promised within three to five minutes, although my Crispy Rice Bowl was ready in just under two minutes. I watched another diner place an order on the screen, then leave with their bowl in approximately three minutes.
The quality of my meal wasn’t compromised by its automated preparation. The ingredients were fresh and flavorful, and the dressing added a satisfying spice.
“Perfect portioning enhances consistency in the product,” Fessel mentioned. “Reduced omissions in ingredients boost customer satisfaction.”
The Capitol Hill Sweetgreen, found at 1530 11th Ave., operates daily with pickup, dine-in, or delivery services from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Additional Seattle-area sites include South Lake Union and Totem Lake / Kirkland, Wash.
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