Quick-casual opponents Chipotle Mexican Grill and Cava Group are coming to the desk collectively to spend money on the way forward for restaurant know-how.
Hyphen, a foodservice platform that automates culinary operations—together with meal manufacturing at meeting stations—has raised $25 million in Collection B funding led by Chipotle’s Domesticate Subsequent enterprise fund, which invested $15 million, and Cava, which contributed $5 million with a further $5 million dedication topic to phrases.
“This new funding from two of probably the most iconic manufacturers within the fast-casual business is a testomony to the influence Hyphen’s workforce and know-how are having on restaurant operations,” stated Stephen Klein, CEO and co-founder of Hyphen, within the announcement launched Tuesday.
Chipotle is a earlier investor in Hyphen, however this marks Cava’s first main funding in automation.
“I definitely see numerous alternative at Hyphen,” Cava CFO Tricia Tolivar informed Fortune.
Cava’s co-founder and CEO Brett Schulman and the management workforce consider know-how ought to improve the human expertise, not exchange it, “and Hyphen’s tools does simply that,” Tolivar stated. Cava has thought of Hyphen and related ideas for months and is assured this partnership is a sensible transfer, she added.
“Chipotle is within the fast-casual house and sees this funding in an identical means, and we’re joyful to have the ability to companion with them,” Tolivar stated.
Chipotle focuses on Mexican-inspired dishes, that includes beans, rice, salsa, and guacamole, whereas Cava focuses on Mediterranean flavors comparable to hummus, tzatziki, feta, contemporary greens, and grains. Each provide grilled meats and compete for model loyalty amongst shoppers who worth contemporary components and customizable, build-your-own meals.
At Cava’s eating places, Hyphen can be used for what Tolivar describes because the “second-make line”—an space behind the home the place workforce members put together all bowls and pitas for digital orders (supply and pickup) individually from in-restaurant friends. Hyphen’s system will permit workforce members to arrange a bowl or pita on prime, whereas routinely producing further bowls on the underside from the identical components, boosting pace and throughput, she defined. The know-how additionally goals to enhance digital order accuracy.
“Most significantly, it’s actually about making our workforce members’ lives simpler,” she added. Cava remains to be within the testing part, so it is going to be a number of months earlier than the know-how is deployed in eating places, Tolivar stated.
The corporate reported on Tuesday for its fiscal second quarter ended July 13 that Cava income grew 20.3% 12 months over 12 months to $278.2 million. About 37% of gross sales within the quarter had been digital, Tolivar stated. Second-quarter, same-restaurant gross sales grew 2.1%, whereas the corporate opened a internet 16 new eating places, bringing the full to 398—a 16.7% year-over-year enhance.
As for Chipotle, in November, Scott Boatwright grew to become the everlasting CEO, following the departure of Brian Niccol, who’s now the chief govt at Starbucks.
