Zume
In 2015, Zume hit the scene as a pizza restaurant in San Francisco, featuring a kitchen where robots flipped pies and AI-powered trucks delivered grub prepared by onboard robots.
Now, the robo-za startup is focusing on a broader appeal within the mobile food industry.
Yesterday, Zume announced a new partnership with &pizza, the first company to use its new “Forward Mobile Kitchen” trucks.
You’re providing &pizza with infrastructure for human-run “food trucks.” It’s OK to say it.
In Zume’s defense, the new Forward Mobile Kitchens also double as delivery trucks that use AI to provide customer service improvements based on location, traffic, and orders.
*exits stage to crickets.
According to Zume CEO Alex Garden, the food truck model isn’t the end-all-be-all, but it will create opportunities outside of its brick-and-mortar business and give its brand exposure in new neighborhoods.
“It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and takes a year, sometimes more, to open up a bricks and mortar store,” the Zume chief told TechCrunch. Now, with Zume’s infrastructure, Garden says companies can open a new market in a matter of weeks — with a flexible financial model to boot.