Whole Foods Tests Robotic Barista
Houston-Midtown store will feature a new robotic barista that crafts a drink “in minutes.”
Oct 14, 2019
HOUSTON, Texas—Whole Foods Market is installing a robotic barista at a Houston-Midtown store that will provide in-store coffee service, according to Grocery Drive. Briggo, which claims to be the creator of the world's first gourmet, robotic barista, is partnering with Whole Foods to make this a reality.
Set to open on November 7, customers can use in-store kiosks or use the Briggo mobile app to order drinks. The robotic barista will then craft drinks “in minutes”—a big selling point for busy shoppers and commuters.
Ordering kiosks are trendy within the restaurant space—as are shelf-scanning bots and other tech-based systems—but the robot barista is an entirely new concept. While Briggo launched in 2018, this is its debut in the grocery store industry.
Grocery Drive says that the “novelty of the robotic barista may draw curious coffee drinkers in the short-term and could drive a sales bump as the new Houston store gets going.” But long-term, Whole Foods will need to experience sustained sales and labor savings to justify any expansion to other locations.
Expansion isn’t out of the picture though: Whole Foods is known for its in-store coffee service, with a full-service espresso and coffee bar at many locations around the country. Plus, the U.S. coffee market increased in volume by 3.8% in 2018, according to Allegra World Coffee Portal's 2019 Project Cafe USA report. If the new robotic barista proves successful in Houston, Whole Foods has a good chance of using it to take a bigger slice of the coffee market pie.
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