Zume Pizza was once a much-hyped $2 billion company on the bleeding edge of pizza robotics. Then it flopped. Now the dream is back, thanks to Miso Robotics, a leading AI and robotics provider for restaurants and hospitality.
Miso said it has acquired the technology and intellectual property of Zume Pizza, a company once featured on PMQ’s cover (June-July 2017). At the time, we suggested Zume “may be the sci-fi pizzeria of the future.” It was not. In fact, just a couple of years later PMQ reported that Zume had quietly backed away from building its famous pizza bots. And by early 2020, the startup had reportedly laid off 80% of its staff.
But prior to all of that, Zume Pizza had raised more than $450 million and achieved a valuation of more than $2 billion. It was a remarkable collapse, seemingly relegating Zume Pizza to the status of a footnote in the fast-evolving history of food robotics.
Miso Robotics, however, has apparently found value in what’s left of Zume, although the terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2015, Zume Pizza was perhaps the highest profile player in the pre-pandemic first wave of robotics companies targeting the food space. Developed over a decade, its expansive portfolio of over 300 patents covers robust innovations in robotic food preparation, delivery, sustainability and packaging, according to Miso Robotics. The company said the addition of Zume’s intellectual property will allow Miso to accelerate the addition of new features across its existing platform and expand its platform more rapidly into adjacent products.
“Zume created the most important portfolio of technology in food robotics’ first wave,” Miso CEO Rick Hull said in a press release. “Now combined with Miso’s existing technology related to AI and robotic frying, grilling and beverages, this transaction creates the food industry’s largest AI and robotics patent portfolio” and solidifies Miso’s position as an industry leader.
In the tech field, Miso said, it’s historically the second wave of companies that successfully scale the disruptive advancements created by the first wave. “In social media, MySpace was the first innovator, but Facebook won,” Hull noted. “In tablets, Palm Pilot was the first innovator, but iPad won.”
Hull added, “Zume may have been a bit too early for the market, but its advancements were game-changing. As labor shortages and rising labor costs cause restaurants to rapidly modernize today, Miso can now be the one to unlock the massive value of this IP and further accelerate our industry-leading ability to deliver provable customer ROI.”
Miso also recently acquired restaurant operations software company Zignyl, which Miso is combining with its restaurant revenue generator product, Zippy. The combined customer base of Zippy and Zignyl now includes leading quick serve restaurant brands, including Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Jersey Mikes, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Jamba, Cinnabon, Which Wich, and more. Miso’s acquisition of Zignyl earlier this year came on the heels of another high-profile acquisition in the space, Wonder’s $186 million acquisition of Sweetgreen’s Spyce robot.
Under Hull’s leadership, Miso has collaborated with NVIDIA to build an AI infrastructure platform called the Miso Hub that is the operating system for some modern restaurants and foodservice operations. Now powered by the Miso Hub, Miso’s flagship product, Flippy Fry Station, is an AI robot that automates the hardest-to-fill, least desirable job in restaurants. Last year, the company launched Flippy’s third generation and said it recently surpassed 5 million baskets fried in live commercial deployments. Flippy just entered its seventh U.S. state with restaurant brands such as White Castle, as well as launched in its first NBA arena.
