FryBot™ wins distinguished 2023 Kitchen Innovation Award
FryBot acknowledged for leading automation in the Commercial Kitchen space
February 28, 2022
The Kitchen Innovation Awards Program, which is affiliated with the National Restaurant Association Show, leads the industry in recognizing the year’s most cutting-edge kitchen innovations. This year, it honored Lab2Fab’s FryBot™ for its excellence and ability to revolutionize the commercial kitchen space with its automation to streamline the deep-frying process.
The KI awards have earned the reputation for defining the gold standard of foodservice equipment innovations. They pride themselves on reflecting the goals of foodservice operators in today’s market and celebrate the forward-thinking equipment that’s making a significant impact on the foodservice industry.
FryBot™, which is advertised to, “Simplify the Fry” garnered a lot of attention at this year’s North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) Show. FryBot™ not only kept the audience members intrigued with its swift & calculated robotic arm movements, but also kept attendees fed, with a variety of French fries and chicken nuggets. The automation seemed relentless as it continually moved throughout the show, creating over 1,000 orders of freshly cooked fries and tenders.
A key determinant for the panel of judges focused on innovation that address the industry’s most pressing challenges, such as labor, speed-of-service, space-constraints and rising cost. FryBot™ hit all these key markers, and rose to the top, by creating automation that makes labor more efficient, increases speed-of-service, has a small footprint and reduces food waste.
Attendees & judges were also able to get up-close with the automation, since FryBot™ was designed to work in-concert with people moving in its vicinity. It stood out for its ability to utilize sensors to recognize when a person is in its workspace zone and adjust its speed accordingly, while still effectively performing its tasks.
A focus on safety was further echoed, as it was noted how FryBot™ would diminish an employee’s dangerous task of spending long hours near hot, splattering frying oil, which typically reaches over 400 degrees. Overall, it was evident that many saw the impact this automation would have on successful kitchens moving forward.
Tom Cindric, president of Winsight Exhibitions, stated, “Each year, we see innovative products that revolutionize kitchen and foodservice operations, and this year is no different. These equipment advancements address many of the challenges impacting operations today—including workforce shortages and labor costs—and create a new generation of kitchens that improve operations and safety through increased efficiency, versatility and productivity to help boost the bottom line.”
With so many variables fluctuating in the modern Kitchen landscape, it is valuable to determine the leading innovations. The Lab2Fab team that created FryBot™ enthusiastically excepted their win within this competitive market and appreciated the recognition from the distinguished judging panel.
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*The KI Awards recipients were selected by an independent panel of judges comprised of industry leaders and internationally recognized food facility consultants, multiunit executives and design experts.
The National Restaurant Association Show, Hotel-Motel Show is owned and operated by Winsight LLC in equity partnership with the National Restaurant Association.
About Winsight LLC
Winsight LLC is a business-to-business information, event and market intelligence company serving the restaurant and noncommercial foodservice, convenience and petroleum retailing and grocery industries. Winsight provides research and analytics, branding solutions, face-to-face opportunities, lead generation initiatives, and content marketing services through products including subscription data products, reports, research tools, research programs, fully custom studies, conferences, custom marketing services, meetings, print, digital trade media and tradeshows, including the National Restaurant Association Show.
About Lab2Fab Inc.
Since 2011, L2F has helped companies innovate and bring new ideas from the lab to full-scale fabrication (Lab2Fab™). Our clients have been acquired by major multi-nationals, received tens of millions in VC financing, and launched disruptive technologies in their markets.
We now bring our skillset, with laser focus, to the number one food equipment manufacturer in the world, The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ: MIDD).
Middleby’s large network of foodservice equipment companies, and their track record for constant innovation makes them a perfect match for our vision and values.
Respect, grace, and grit enabled us to put rockets in the sky, robots in kitchens, and electric vehicles on the road. We’re thrilled to help position the world’s leader in industrial kitchen appliances at the cutting edge of food service automation. Besides FryBot™, Lab2Fab also created & represents PizzaBot™, SpiceBot and Skyflo Pro™ liquor-control systems.
