Kyochon F&B, the operator of Kyochon Chicken, is accelerating the efficiency of franchise operations using dedicated cooking robots. On June 24, the company announced that it would introduce these robots to two directly managed stores in California, including the Mid-Wilshire and Rowland Heights stores, within this year.
According to the U.S. Operations Development Team of Kyochon F&B’s Global Americas and New Business Division, two robots were ordered for the Mid-Wilshire store and one for the Rowland Heights store. They plan to install and conduct mass production tests as early as the end of this year. The ordered robots are the recently released improved models, with updated overall software features such as custom motion settings based on kitchen flow and cooking situations, and remote access. They have actively addressed the inconveniences of franchise owners with existing models by adding location detection sensors to the gripper that lifts and moves frying baskets.
Kyochon signed a business agreement with the robot manufacturing company Neuromeka last year in 2021 and is introducing a Kyochon Chicken exclusive chicken cooking robot that can perform its unique recipes for signature menus such as double frying and trimming (removing unnecessary fried crumbs attached to chicken pieces).
As of June, these robots are in use at Kyochon’s training R&D center in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, as well as in six franchise stores in Seoul and the metropolitan area.
A Kyochon F&B representative stated, “The cooking robot can provide chicken with consistent taste and quality, help prevent safety accidents that may occur during the cooking process, and improve store operation efficiency. As the hourly wage in California is close to $21.65, we expect significant labor cost savings.”
