What’s the consumer mindset? Is catering back? What is NachoGate? Answers to these questions and more This Week in Foodservice.

What’s slowing the adoption of artificial intelligence and robotics in foodservice?

For starters, AI is not advanced enough to handle most tasks and the current upfront costs make it prohibitively expensive for most companies. That comes from a Food Institute story citing data from MIT CSAIL, MIT Sloan, the Productivity Institute and IBM’s Institute for Business Value. In fact, only 23% of visual tasks currently could be handled by AI, per a spokesperson for the study.

As a result, expect the integration of AI and robotics to remain gradual. And when it comes time to integrate technology into an operation, it’s important to allow enough space for the robots and the humans to circulate through the space effectively and safely, which is a lesson one restaurant chain is learning, as the story notes.

One thing is certain, though, the potential of robotics will continue to draw innovation and investment. For example, robotics maker Aniai has secured $12 million pre-Series A funding round. As a result, Aniai says it plans ramp-up production of Alpha Grill, its robotic hamburger cooking station in the coming months. The double-sided grill can cook up to eight hamburger patties at once or up to 200 in an hour, per a company release. Aniai also plans a software update for Alpha Grill that will include artificial intelligence that will “discern the color of the hamburger patties and assess their quality through real-time vision sensors during the cooking process,” per a company release.

Foodservice News

• Catering is back. The pandemic kept us apart – both socially and professionally – but as people continue to gather more frequently the need for catering will continue to rise and rise fast. In fact, catering business is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2% between 2024 and 2032, reaching over $124 billion by 2032, per ezCater data cited in a Restaurant Dive story. Both return-to-office and social occasions will drive this growth, the story adds.
• Multiconcept operator Craveworthy Brands has entered the snack category by purchasing a stake in Dirty Dough, a cookie concept with 55 locations and 10 food trucks, per a release. Craveworthy Brands now has 11 concepts in its portfolio, including Wing It On!, The Budlong, Krafted Burger + Tap, Genghis Grill, BD's Mongolian Grill, Flat Top Grill, Lucky Cat Poke Co., Pastizza, Scramblin' Ed's, and Soom Soom Mediterranean.
• For the first time in its 75-year history, In-N-Out Burger will close a restaurant. Citing a wave of car break-ins, property damage, theft and robberies, the chain intends to close a location in Oakland, Calif., on March 24, 2024, per an Associated Press story. Despite having taken “repeated steps to create safer conditions our customers and associates are regularly victimized,” said a company spokesperson.
• McDonald’s does more than feed its customers. It feeds the U.S. economy by contributing $108 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product, per an Oxford Economics study. The company and its franchisees helped generate 1.4 million jobs in the U.S. per year and generated more than $22 billion in taxes, adds a Restaurant Business story. California, Texas and Florida are the states where the chain has the greatest economic impact.
• Wawa will open its first drive-thru location in Pennsylvania in early February, per C-Store Dive. These units are largely fabricated off-site, with the pieces assembled on location. The chain plans to open more of these locations but the first will be about 60 miles north of Wawa’s headquarters in the Keystone State. News of this development comes a few months after Wawa announced its intention to nearly double its store count between 2023 and 2030 and bring the retailer to seven new states.
• First there was Watergate and then Deflategate and now it’s time to make room for NachoGate. Indeed, NachoGate happened when a customer at a Las Vegas casino received a $21 order of nachos that consisted of six chips, a few one-ounce condiment jars and a couple of cilantro leaves still on the stems, as Eater reports. A $21 plate of nachos is pricey, even in Las Vegas. Sensing the chance to cash in big, other Las Vegas casinos went all in showcasing how consumers can hit the nacho jackpot at their establishments. As it turns out, everyone was able to walk away a winner as the operator who started nachoGate upped its ante by recreating the menu item in a much more mouthwatering way.
• Someone’s leadership role may expire within a trade association, but you can’t take the leader out of that person. So it comes as no surprise that when a collection of past chairpersons from the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry got together at the organization’s biennial conference in Palm Springs, Calif., they decided to form a committee to take on the tasks of philanthropy, scholarship, and mentorship. Made up of past presidents from the group, The MAFSI Chairmans Association seeks to create platforms that will benefit local and national food-related charities, provide scholarships to culinary programs and mentor new hires to the rep industry. The goal is to have this committee in place for the third quarter of 2024.

Economic News This Week

• Consumer confidence is on the rise. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index hit 114.8 in January. Not only does this represent an increase from December’s reading of 108.0, but it’s also the study’s highest level since December 2021. “January’s increase in consumer confidence likely reflected slower inflation, anticipation of lower interest rates ahead, and generally favorable employment conditions as companies continue to hoard labor,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. 
• Real gross domestic product increased by 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, per an advance estimate from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Although this is 1.6% less than the third quarter of 2023, most economists feel the U.S. economy remains strong, per this Reuters story. Increases in consumer spending and exports drove the fourth quarter gains, per the BEA.
• Both personal income and disposable personal income increased 0.3% in December, per the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures increased 0.7%. The PCE price index increased 0.2%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.2%. Real DPI increased 0.1% in December and real PCE increased 0.5%.
• Initial jobless claims totaled 214,000 for the week ending January 20, 2024, per data from the U.S. Department of Labor. This marks an increase of 25,000 from the previous week. The 4-week moving average was 202,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week.
• The number of job openings changed little at 9.0 million on the last business day of December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. While that’s only slightly more than November’s level, December marks the first time since September that job openings exceeded 9 million, as CNN notes. Over the month, the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 5.6 million and 5.4 million, respectively.