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Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
11–20 of 114 posts
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#12A consumer isn't going to care about the automation. Does the pizza taste good? I'm especially interested in how these "mobile ovens" will work out. If a delivery is 1 mile away vs 5 miles away, length of time in the oven will be different, yet you don't want to deliver under-baked dough or something that is burnt.
The video in the article says they automatically turn the oven on when they're 3 minutes from the delivery (they have like 50 ovens in the truck). I think that's actually the coolest part of their idea.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#13A consumer isn't going to care about the automation. Does the pizza taste good? I'm especially interested in how these "mobile ovens" will work out. If a delivery is 1 mile away vs 5 miles away, length of time in the oven will be different, yet you don't want to deliver under-baked dough or something that is burnt.
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Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#14So.... when all the people who were cooking the pizzas are out of work, who will be left to buy the pizzas? The same goes for all low wage jobs that are being automated away.
I'm not sure how many people have really thought through the long term implications of what happens when you automate all the "grunt" work. As a successful business, your income comes from customers. Your customers need to make money somehow. All this automation seems like it will actually kill market liquidity.
Edit: the obvious response is "a new market will move in. disrupting the old." However, I don't think the radio->television (and so on) analogy actually applies here, since it is demonstrable that there the new technologies replaced old technologies, rather than employees.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#15So.... when all the people who were cooking the pizzas are out of work, who will be left to buy the pizzas? The same goes for all low wage jobs that are being automated away. I'm not sure how many people have really thought through the long term implications of what happens when you automate all the "grunt" work. As a successful business, your income comes from customers. Your customers need to make money somehow. Al…
That is why YC is investigating guaranteed basic income.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#16Puff piece -- the idea of cooking pizzas in a truck is a good one, but the whole 'robotics' angle is a little trite. The only automated part seemed to be the sauce (which Costco does) and moving the pizza to the oven. I like the moving-pizza-truck idea, it's a shame this had to go the route of 'robotic pizzeria' since it's so blatantly a puff piece.
The idea of cooking on the road is great, but those wire conveyer racks that they're cooking on look like a nightmare to clean. I suspect cleaning all of those ovens will not be automatable for now either.
on a different note, mini pizza ovens seem to be the best part of this startup, seems as though it could be a great product when combined with 'artisinal robot made' frozen pizza.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#17That robotic arm is the salary of a dominos employee for 10+ years.
Source?
> How Much Do New Robots Cost? Complete with controllers and teach pendants, new industrial robotics cost from $50,000 to $80,000. Once application-specific peripherals are added, the robot system costs anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000. Reconditioned robots are a less expensive option. Typically, used robots cost half as much as new robots. Used robot prices can range between an estimated $25,000 and $40,000, and systems with application components cost between $50,000 and $75,000.
Just checked out a random pizza hut and seems to be open 11 AM - 10 PM daily or 11 hours a day or 77 hours a week or 4,000 hours a year. That'll cost about 30k a year at minimum wage not counting overtime, training, hiring cost, taxes, etc.
[0] https://www.robots.com/faq/show/how-much-do-industrial-robot...
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#18So.... when all the people who were cooking the pizzas are out of work, who will be left to buy the pizzas? The same goes for all low wage jobs that are being automated away. I'm not sure how many people have really thought through the long term implications of what happens when you automate all the "grunt" work. As a successful business, your income comes from customers. Your customers need to make money somehow. Al…
That is why YC is investigating guaranteed basic income.
The problem with basic income is it transfers the source of the paycheck from a company to the government. Right now, if I have an issue with my paycheck, I can go to the government for recourse. If my paycheck comes from the government, how do I achieve my check and balance?
Also, it's already been established that Silicon Valley is not so happy with the government, so displacing an entire working class and making them dependent on the government would grant the government a power that seems against SV's interests.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#19I think the upside of this method is not only the efficiency of reducing the human labor cost, but the consistency of eating something made by robots. Above all else, many Americans prefer consistency, which helps explain the popularity of many chain restaurants. Companies like Starbucks and McDonalds go to great efforts to ensure product control and proper training with minimal variability in the product quality. Also other exciting options include A/B testing which can provide a better feedback loop than manually tinkering and trying to tease out consumer preference.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#20> "Just imagine Domino's without the labor component," said Garden. "You can start to see how incredibly profitable that can be."
So that quote leads me to imagine crappy pizza that's maybe a little cheaper than other crappy pizza. Doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and try it.