White Castle is hiring robots as fry cooks and seeing improvements in service and order accuracy

Robots are slowly taking over White Castle, albeit in a more helpful rather than menacing manner. The Ohio-based fast-food chain has been implementing Miso Robotics’ “Flippy 2” as fry cooks across the country, according to a recent report from Today. The initiative first began in September 2020, when White Castle installed the original “Flippy” in a Chicago area restaurant. Following an upgrade to “Flippy 2” at the original test location in November 2021, White Castle decided to introduce the trusty robot to more locations nationwide.

According to a 2022 statement from Miso Robotics, “Flippy 2” has been successful at boosting efficiency and quality of service both in and out of the kitchen: “Flippy 2 alleviates the pain points that come with back-of-house roles at quick-service restaurants to create a working environment for its human coworkers that maximizes the efficiency of the kitchen. The improved workflow allows for the redeployment of team members to focus on creating memorable moments for customers.”

Miso Robotics said the rollout of the machines is being phased by region and is still in the planning stages, per Today. An unnamed spokesperson for White Castle also told the media outlet that the rollout is still ongoing and will eventually be in “nearly one-third of the company’s approximately 350 brick-and-mortar White Castle restaurants across the Midwest, Southwest and the New York area.”

As of Oct. 13, there have been 17 robots installed, said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle.