People depend on food, and the catering business is an "evergreen tree".
The "evergreen" catering industry does not mean that there is no change. In recent years, Generation Z consumers have put forward higher requirements for catering taste, catering efficiency and catering safety. At the same time, driven by new consumption, new technologies, and new models, the catering industry has developed a trend of diversification, with take-out taking the mainstream, pre-made dishes becoming the vane, catering robots emerging in an endless stream, and the development of new catering formats are in full swing.
Recently, the comprehensive service provider of gourmet robots, "Buying Technology" announced that it has completed the Pre-A round of financing of nearly 10 million US dollars. In terms of investment, the Zhixing Research Institute No. 1 Fund founded by Professor Gan Jie, Professor Gao Bingqiang followed up, and the old shareholders Lingyi Venture Capital and Hanergy Venture Capital all followed the investment.
With the addition of new players such as Non-stop Technology and the iterative upgrading of new products by old players such as Qinglang Intelligent, catering robots will gradually be recognized and popularized by the market and become an integral part of the smart catering supply chain.
Picture from Canva can draw
Robots become the new standard for restaurants
A few years ago, Ali put forward the concept of "unmanned restaurant", aiming to use robots to realize food catering and delivery in all aspects. From selecting the location to ordering and serving, all the processes are completed by the intelligent system. Ali’s surreal concept and gameplay have caught the eyes of consumers, and there are many supporters of the unmanned restaurant, but due to technical problems, the implementation and promotion of the unmanned restaurant has not been smooth.
In the past two years, digitalization and intelligence have gradually become the transformation direction of various industries, and commercial service robots have taken the opportunity to sneak into various industries. CIC Consulting's "China Robot Industry Blue Book" also shows that the market size of China's domestic service robots will reach 15 billion yuan in 2021, and the market size of China's commercial service robots will be about 2 billion yuan, but the future potential market size will be around 100 billion yuan.
Catering is the scene where commercial service robots landed earlier, with a high degree of user recognition and a wide range of applications.
First, restaurant operators generally believe that the introduction of high technology is beneficial to increase the attractiveness of consumption, improve efficiency and reduce operating costs, so that catering service robots are rapidly spreading in the catering market. From the perspective of industry characteristics, the catering industry requires a lot of labor in kitchen, food delivery, cleaning, cash register and other links, and the labor cost is high. The use of AI robots can alleviate the labor cost of catering to a certain extent.
Second, with the advancement of artificial intelligence technology, more and more companies have begun to lay out the catering robot industry. In addition to established robot manufacturers such as Siasun Robotics, Pangolin Robotics, and Fanxing Technology, the catering robot market has also poured in a large number of start-up companies such as Qinglang Intelligent, Purdue Technology, Youdi Technology, Puhua Smart, Xiaomi, Baidu, etc. , Huawei and other Internet companies also came to share the pie.
Thirdly, the repeated "zero contact" of the epidemic has become the consensus of the whole people, and the catering robot just meets the requirements of non-contact delivery. Its integration with the catering industry is getting deeper and deeper, and smart catering is entering a new stage. The speed of digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the catering industry is accelerating, and catering robots have become the only way for the catering market under the background of the epidemic.
At present, my country's catering industry is transforming towards intelligence and digitalization. All links in the catering supply chain are trying to upgrade intelligently. Not surprisingly, smart catering systems, food delivery robots, cooking robots, and cleaning robots will become the standard configuration of the future catering industry. .
Non-stop technological "attack"
Like dishwashers, cooking robots are household products that young people most want to own, but the current technology and products do not allow cooking robots to enter thousands of households. The one-year-old gourmet robot overall solution service provider, Wubu Technology, is trying to promote the upgrading and inclusiveness of cooking robot products.
As we all know, to replace the work of a chef, a cooking robot must not only know basic cooking operations, but also be familiar with recipes and precise seasoning, in order to meet people's expectations for cooking robots. This coincides with the development route of non-stop technology.
It is understood that the BOTIN Robot launched by Nonstop Technology has an intelligent closed-loop temperature control function and a 16-channel seasoning high-precision automatic feeding function, which can accurately control the temperature and seasoning during the cooking process. A gourmet robot that integrates the engraving system and the kitchen SAAS system.
As a "latecomer" in the catering robot industry, there is an innate gap between Bianbu Technology and other leading brands in terms of market size and brand volume. Can its existing technologies and products successfully enter the catering robot market?
At the technical level, Boundless Technology has created the Botin Gallery software content platform, self-developed digital cooking translation algorithms, abandoned previous solutions such as robotic arms, and pursued new technologies and new developments. The working efficiency of the cooking robot and the quality of the dishes depend on the level of technology. It is indeed advisable to keep improving the attitude of "extracting the essence and discarding the dross" in the hardware and pursuing the "intelligent brain" in the software.
It can be said that the new product BOTIN Robot has demonstrated the highest technical level of non-stop technology. For example, the digital cooking translation algorithm can realize the digital reproduction of any recipe, the SaaS system of the back kitchen can provide data basis for the research and development of dishes, and the combination of Botin Gallery software content platform and BOTIN Robot has upgraded and optimized the digital level of the food process.
In terms of team, non-stop science and technology has collected talents from all walks of life, such as catering, Internet, and robotics, and established its own R&D team. It is understood that the core team of Nonstop Technology is mainly from world-renowned universities such as Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Georgia Tech, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tsinghua University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and more than half of the core members are serial entrepreneurs in related industries.
As a technology-based product, technology is the core competitiveness of cooking robots, and technological progress and innovation are inseparable from scientific and technological talents. The continuous technologically mature R&D and operation teams are the confidence to break into the cooking robot market . It is also worth mentioning that Nonstop Technology went overseas early and launched corresponding software and hardware products for North America, Southeast Asia, Japan, Singapore and other places.
It has to be said that the emergence of cooking robots solves the pain points of low efficiency and high cost in the catering market, helps catering practitioners improve work efficiency, and promotes AI in the catering industry. However, subject to the complex processing and production of dishes at the existing technical level, the cooking robot market has a mediocre reputation, and the "road to inclusiveness" has a long way to go.
From this point of view, catering robot companies represented by non-stop technology have to increase products, functions, services, channels and other aspects, constantly enrich content and strengthen hardware functions. Only through the power of technology can people realize "cooking". Freedom" and at the same time enhance their own competitiveness in order to successfully attack.
Qinglang Smart "overwinter"
Compared with cooking robots, the development of food delivery robots is much less difficult, and it is one of the most common robot products in the catering scene. As a leading player in the field of food delivery robots, the food delivery robots developed by Qinglong Intelligent are distributed in many countries and regions around the world, earning a lot of money.
The IDC report shows that in 2021, Qinglong will rank first with a market share of 48.6% and a growth rate of 153.4%. At the same time, according to network data, Keenon Robotics has covered more than 600 cities around the world, and has established six business areas in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, South America and Africa.
Keenon's outstanding achievements cannot be separated from the support of capital, its own strong technical strength and years of operating experience. However, the robot market environment is changing with each passing day, the capital market is pre-cooling, and market competition is fierce. The expansion speed of Keenon is slowly slowing down or Will "overwinter" ahead of schedule.
On the one hand, capital support is the original driving force for Qinglong’s expansion, but this year’s capital investment attitude has become more cautious, and it is becoming more and more difficult for companies to raise external funds. In the past few years, Keenon has been financing continuously, with the help of capital funds to support the research and development of Keenon's smart technology, to promote new products to strengthen the supply chain, to improve the overall sales and service capabilities, and to realize the diversified scene layout of the global market.
It is understood that in 2020, hundreds of millions of yuan will be obtained in the C round of financing. The investors are Softbank Asia Venture Capital Corporation and Alibaba Group; It is the single commercial financing with the highest amount in the field of commercial service robots in China.
On the other hand, manufacturers such as Youdi, Yunji, and Purdue Technology have also iterated new products one after another. The homogeneity of product functions has become more serious, and the advantages of Qinglong Intelligent's product matrix have narrowed. Qinglong Intelligent has continuously upgraded and iterative product matrix around the catering industry, which has met the food delivery needs of different catering users and expanded the commercialization space. At present, Qinglong Intelligent has launched food delivery robots T1, T2, T5, T6, etc., and Feiyu. .
The competition between catering robot manufacturers is specifically about technical strength, product strength, and service strength. Continuously iterative products can bring more attention and obtain additional business increments, thereby maintaining rapid growth. Therefore, overweight technology, Iterative products are the development consensus of catering robot manufacturers.
It is understood that Purdue Technology has intelligent food delivery robot "Happy Delivery", high-end food delivery robot "Bella", delivery and welcome two-in-one robot "Hulu"; Yunji Technology has delivery robot "Run" and four The delivery robot "Skylark"; Youdi Robot has Youxiaomei and Youxiaodi series delivery robots...
Although the market environment is not ideal, Qinglong Intelligent has accumulated many years of core technology, supply chain, business channels, and market size to form a natural "moat". It is difficult for other robot manufacturers to shake its leading position. With the increasing demand for robots, the business scale of Qinglong's intelligent food delivery robots will also be further improved.
Play "A Song of Ice and Fire"
At present, the global epidemic has not yet been fully controlled, and the market demand for catering robots continues to increase. It is an indisputable fact that robots have become a new standard for restaurants.
On the one hand, the epidemic has repeatedly forced the catering industry to develop towards intelligence, and the catering delivery robot market has a new development space. Not only high-end hotels and smart restaurants, but also ordinary small and medium-sized restaurants have also purchased or leased catering delivery robots. Commercial services The scale of the robot market has further expanded.
The traction of scene-based demand has made food delivery robots continue to be popular, and small and medium chain restaurants in the sinking market have also opened the door to catering robots. According to incomplete statistics, Haidilao, Xiabu Xiabu, Xibei Youmian Village, Dezhuang Hot Pot, Xiaolongkan, Baheli, Dadong, Bianyifang, Wangshunge and many other catering brands use catering delivery robots to deliver meals .
On the other hand, some leading catering robot manufacturers have difficulty in financing, some have frequently laid off employees, and some have stopped expanding. It can be said that when the trend of smart catering comes, catering robot manufacturers are immersed in the carnival of capital games;
On July 4, Purdue Technology CEO Zhang Tao sent a letter to all employees saying: "For the sake of the company's survival, we decided to slim down the company's business and team." To about 500 people, which is basically the same as the number at the beginning of the business.
In addition, it is becoming more and more difficult for leading catering robot manufacturers to obtain financing. According to public data on the Internet, there will be 113 financing events related to the service robot track in 2021, with a financing amount exceeding 44 billion yuan. In addition, as of the end of October 2022, the number of financing related to the service robot track is only 17, which is less than the number of financing in the first quarter of last year.
On the one hand, the catering robot market has a huge demand, and on the other hand, layoffs and financing difficulties. The catering robot industry has played a "song of ice and fire". Facing the chaotic industry status quo, different companies have chosen different development paths. Which way to retreat is the right one, time will tell.