US RoboBurger is marketing the “first fully autonomous robotic burger chef in a box,” which can assemble a finished fast-food-like burger in four minutes. The company has captured US$10 million in a Seed 2 round of funding to grow and scale production.

The machine grills, toasts, adds condiments and puts together the burger automatically and is pegged to help plus the gaps in the US foodservice industry workforce which has seen thousands leave their jobs since the COVID-19 pandemic. .

RoboBurger flags that the machines are ideal for university campuses, hospital waiting rooms or for late nights and early mornings  at the airport when no restaurants are  open.

“We have received an overwhelming amount of interest from around the world. This new round of funding will allow us to rapidly scale up and keep up with the incredible demand as we continue to roll out RoboBurger units across the US,” says Audley Wilson, CEO of RoboBurger.

East coast pilot machines
The company has unveiled the second-generation of the vending machines, and they will be launched first in Pilot Flying J in Newark, “one of the largest urban truck rest stop chains,” according to the company. 

They will also set up the machines at a university in Queens, New York, and at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.

“RoboBurger is working with some of the largest companies in the US to help them improve their food offerings by providing people with access to freshly cooked food, 24 hours a day, without having to leave the building,” flags the company.

The new machines come after RoboBurger launched its first pop-up location in March 2022 in Jersey City.

“Promethean believes that RoboBurger and their focus on automation and robotics are the solution to deal with the labor availability and cost as well as inflation challenges we see in hospitality & food production today. We look forward to helping take RoboBurger global,”  Michael Burt, founding partner at Promethean, an equity firm that has partnered with RoboBurger. 

Low employment automation
Vending machines are seen as a practical solution in countries with low unemployment rates, wher automatic machines can aid in filling the gaps created when there are no available workers to fill job positions.

This aided with the rise in the popularity of vending machines in Japan, which has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world at 2.5%.

RoboBurger will help with the tight US job market, which also saw a 3.5% unemployment rate in September, nearing a 50-year low. The machines are set to help with the chronic shortage of fast-food employees the country faces.