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After years of hype, Creator (formerly Momentum Machines) will be debuting its internet-speculated... [+]
Secretly nested behind construction in San Francisco's SoMa district, Creator (formerly known as Momentum Machines) has been quietly setting up the long awaited debut of its seemingly mythical burger-making robot. As part of its burger restaurant concept of the same name, Creator will open its doors later this month after nearly nine years of secretive development and speculative headlines.
"Rather than talking to people about what we want to do, we'd rather just wait to show them," said founder and CEO Alex Vardakostas while explaining the company's historical avoidance of publicity. Vardakostas' company first made waves in 2012 when the internet caught wind of its fully-automated burger robot prototype, which was rumored of being capable of cooking and bagging upwards of 400 burgers per hour. The company's air of mystery further intensified as it raised $18 million in venture capital last year from heavy hitters including GV, Khosla Ventures and K5 Ventures.
After years of hype, Creator (formerly Momentum Machines) will be debuting its internet-speculated... [+]
Emerging from this wrapped development period, Creator is debuting a burger concept that seems bent on using robots to inject more humanity and customer democracy in the dining experience, which is antithetical to the value prop of front of house-replacing robot concepts like its neighbors Cafe X and Eatsa. Here's what you'll need to know before trying the internet's favorite Rube Goldberg burger machine :
It Will Sell $6 Burgers Made With Artisanal Ingredients
At a price of $6, Creator's burgers are price competitive with the McDonald's Big Mac. In part because it needs fewer kitchen staff and spends less on real estate costs as its smaller kitchen allows more space for foot traffic, Creator plans to allocate more than 40% of its revenue to the cost of ingredients. This means it can preserve an accessible price point without relying on cost-cutting measures more commonly seen in burger concepts, like utilizing factory-farmed meat.
Conversely, this extra revenue allows the restaurant to also include high-end ingredients that may be surprising for this price point or its associated demographic, including umeboshi plum and smoked oyster aioli. Its initial launch will also feature menu creations by renowned chefs, including Bar Tartine's Nick Balla and Top Chef contestant Tu David Phu, and a customizable 15 sauces and 12 seasonings.
Its leadership believes that this price point will democratize artisanal ingredients in a way that represents the next era of food production innovation:
"Food and commodities prices have been decreasing decade over decade. Interestingly though, food prices seemed to have tailed off around 2000. Farmers and tractors did amazing things for society in general, and this feels like the next advancement to bring dramatic reductions to the cost of food while increasing its quality and consistency," said Vardakostas.
It Uses Robots To Enhance Culinary Techniques, Not Replicate Human Capabilities
Rather than build a robot that solely replicates human tasks, like Miso Robotics' human arm-replacer burger flipper Flippy, Creator aims to use robots to tackle unique culinary tasks that human cooks cannot perform.
For example, it uses sensors to determine the ideal cook level of the burger, whereas a human cook may slightly overcook a burger to err on the side of caution. As such, no two burgers are ever cooked in the same amount of time. Moreover, the machine employs Heston Blumenthal's aspirational vertical-aligned grind technique, which is near impossible to perform by hand and, as a result, is not used in upscale restaurants.
Its robots are also capable of being customizable in ingredient requests, such as dispensing sauce by the millimeter, or serving low-sodium options by seasoning only the bottom patty with salt so its taste is more prominent. Using customizations requested by both staff and customers, it will optimize its menu and its machines will be capable of constant iterations.
"If something is useful, you don't call it a robot," noted Vardakostas. "It's like your dishwasher. It's a robot, but you don't refer to it as a robot."
It Is Surprisingly Focused On The Humanity Of Hospitality
Despite its burgers being cooked and assembled by a machine, Creator wants the experience of both its customers and its staff to be built on a foundation of creativity and social interaction. As it automates less pleasurable tasks, its staff can focus instead on tasks more aligned with their interests and creative enhancements.
The concept will also lack the digital kiosks commonly found at other robot-based concepts as a means to encourage customers to be social and even customize their meals through the consultancy of staff.
"The idea of not talking to someone seems straight up dystopian to me. We're at the point that we firmly believe that you cannot automate human creativity and social interaction. Our utopian future is one where there is more creativity and more social interaction, while staff members also get to be more creative and social," said Vardakostas.
To foster an environment of creativity, the company plans to invest in its employees with resources more akin to a tech company like Google. For example, it will offer employees free Coursera courses, and mandates that employees utilize 5% of their time to reading educational books of their choice, occasionally sourcing the very books on display in its dining space.
Cofounder and COO Steve Frehn noted that the complex nature of its machines might naturally open up unique career opportunities to staff members who work alongside or with the equipment. He believes that the skills gained from working with these robots can potentially be transferred to other industries, and open up more advanced opportunities within the company.
"Right now if you are applying to college, you might not put your burger restaurant job on your application. But it would be cool if someone put that they work at Creator, so we know we got [career building] right," added Vardakostas.
Vardakostas and Frehn could not comment on what exactly is next for Creator, but it hopes to expand beyond burgers. The team sees their company as a symbol of the speed of advancement in modern agriculture.
"If you go back 150 years, roughly 80% of us were farmers. It's hard to imagine that our society was like that not long ago," added Vardakostas. Only time will tell if these benevolent burger bots become our generation's tractors.