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Picnic, a Seattle-based startup that raised more than $53 million to develop robots capable of putting human restaurant workers out of a job — even partnering with the giant pizza chain Domino’s — has shut down.
The startup liquidated all of its assets after becoming insolvent, according to legal documents obtained by GeekWire. All its intellectual property has been sold off to an unnamed buyer.
The collapse highlights the tech industry’s struggles to automate labor in the food industry. Despite countless startups attempting to built robots designed to put hospitality workers out of a job, the tasks keeps proving trickier than anticipated, echoing similar woes plaguing other labor-intensive sectors as well.
The startup’s Picnic Pizza Station, which was intended to allow a single worker to push out 100 12-inch pizzas in a single hour by robotically distributing pizza toppings, made a big splash in 2022 when the company announced a partnership with Domino’s.
The goal of a setup that allows one worker to do the work of a whole kitchen seems pretty obvious. But instead of advertising the collaboration as a way to reduce headcount, Domino’s claimed at the time that it was looking to rapidly grow its global workforce through a robot-facilitated expansion into new markets.
futurism.com
The startup liquidated all of its assets after becoming insolvent, according to legal documents obtained by GeekWire. All its intellectual property has been sold off to an unnamed buyer.
The collapse highlights the tech industry’s struggles to automate labor in the food industry. Despite countless startups attempting to built robots designed to put hospitality workers out of a job, the tasks keeps proving trickier than anticipated, echoing similar woes plaguing other labor-intensive sectors as well.
The startup’s Picnic Pizza Station, which was intended to allow a single worker to push out 100 12-inch pizzas in a single hour by robotically distributing pizza toppings, made a big splash in 2022 when the company announced a partnership with Domino’s.
The goal of a setup that allows one worker to do the work of a whole kitchen seems pretty obvious. But instead of advertising the collaboration as a way to reduce headcount, Domino’s claimed at the time that it was looking to rapidly grow its global workforce through a robot-facilitated expansion into new markets.
Oops! Domino's-Partnered Robotics Startup That Was Supposed to Put Human Pizza Chefs Out of a Job Just Shut Down
A startup that developed a robot capable of putting human restaurant workers out of a job and partnered with Domino's, has shut down.
futurism.com
