Introduction to Cooking Robots
Cooking robots are strategically a new concept that induces different types of robots for cooking applications. These robots are designed specifically for use in the cooking of food and they are especially built with food grade materials that do not contaminate the food. Cooking robots can be of single arm, such as that of a SCARA robot, or can be a collaborative robot with multiple functionalities. Cooking robots usually are equipped with advanced technologies, such as machine learning, that runs on the algorithm of pattern-based learning fed externally.
Market Overview
The global cooking robot market is thriving on the back of the growing concerns for food safety & hygiene, growing trends for automation across end user industries including the food and beverage industry, increasing demand for robotics-as-a-service, increasing technological innovations for food robotics, rising demand for collaborative robots, followed by the rising use of machine vision and artificial intelligence technologies. The market is also thriving on account of the increasing sales of retail and food services around the world, which is raising the need amongst food chain operators to increase their efficiency speed for faster delivery of food is also anticipated to promote towards the growth of the global cooking robot market. According to the statistics by the United Census Bureau, in the United States, sales for retail and food services increased from USD 4283737 million in the year 2010 to USD 6023408 million in the year 2018.
The global cooking robot market was valued at USD 86170 thousand in the year 2019 and is further projected to reach a value of USD 322568 thousand by the end of 2028 by growing at a CAGR of 16.09% during the forecast period, i.e. 2020-2028.
Growth Highlights Based on Region During 2019-2028
The global cooking robot market is segmented by regions into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Among these regions, the market in North America registered the largest share of 51% along with a value of USD 43946.7 thousand in the year 2019 and is further anticipated to reach a value of USD 175251.2 thousand by the end of 2028 by growing at a CAGR of 16.90% during the forecast period. Factors such as the increasing emergence of commercial and residential end-user applications, such as pizza making, sandwich & burger making, cocktail preparations amongst others in the U.S. and Canada are primarily anticipated to drive the growth of the North America cooking robot market. Additionally, presence of several large fast-food supply chains, where cooking robots can be deployed, backed by the increasing sales of the restaurants are further anticipated to drive the growth of the market in the region. According to the statistics by the National Restaurant Association of America, the region is anticipated to record sales worth USD 899 billion in the year 2020, along with more than 1 million restaurant locations by the end of 2020.
The study further incorporates Y-O-Y Growth, demand & supply and forecast future opportunity in North America (United States, Canada), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Rest of LATAM), Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, BENELUX [Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg], NORDIC [Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland], Poland, Russia, Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia-Pacific), Middle East and Africa (Israel, GCC [Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman], North Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa).
Market Segmentation Synopsis
By End User
The global cooking robot market has been segmented on the basis of end user into residential and commercial. The commercial end user segment registered the largest share and held a value of USD 77693.2 thousand in the year 2019. Additionally, the segment is further anticipated to reach a value of USD 295169.5 thousand by the end of 2028 by growing at a CAGR of 16.28% during the forecast period. In the modern competitive and highly advanced business environment, the emergence of the robot in the market is becoming significant for various commercial end-user applications. The major factors related to the emergence of robots for commercial use include reduced human interference, increased work efficiency, automatic controls over the cooking parameters, customizations according to the customer requirement, consistency, and others. The rising concerns in the commercial end-user applications for manpower & chef availability, increasing wastage of food, rising CO2 emission, and other factors have raised the need for the deployment of cooking robots. The commercial end user segment is further divided into fast food restaurants, fine dining restaurants, café, contracted food services, ghost kitchens, food trucks, convenience stores, retailers/grocers and small scale/regional FM. The fast food restaurants segment registered the largest market share of 23.94% in the year 2019 and is also anticipated to grow with the highest CAGR of 17.44% during the forecast period.
Market Drivers and Challenges
Growth Indicators
Rising Demand for Professional Service Robots Across End User Verticals
According to the statistics by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), global robot installations increased by 6% to 422,271 units in the year 2018, which was recorded to be worth USD 16.5 billion, is further anticipated to reach around 583,520 units by the end of 2022 by growing at 12% per year on average from 2020 to 2022.
The growing trend of industrial automation across several end user industries, along with the growing trends of Industry 4.0, along with internet of things (IoT) and industrial internet of things (IIoT), backed by the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), have led to the increasing adoption of robots across the end user industries. Moreover, there is an increasing demand for professional service robots across the foodservice industry, backed by the benefits provided by them, such as sizeable continuous uptime of over 100,000 hours, cloud connectivity, and others. Robots are anticipated to become a crucial part of the cooking process based on their innovative features such as visual recognition, failure prediction, and others. Moreover, technological advancements and developments in the food industry are backing a substantial increase in robot installations throughout the years. Robots' potential to aid the cooking process across kitchens in the food & beverage industry is supplementing the potential of robotics market. Additionally, increasing food safety regulations across the industry is anticipated to drive the global cooking robot market over the coming years. According to the statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO), around 600 million people globally fall ill after eating contaminated food. Further, the statistics also stated that 420,000 people die every year for consuming contaminated food.
Growing Innovations in Food Robotics
There is an increasing need amongst food manufacturers to deliver high quality food by using food robotics owing to the numerous benefits associated with the deployment of robots in the food processing industry. For instance, Moley, a robotics company based in the United Kingdom that creates robots for the use in the kitchen, announced the world's first robotic kitchen that features innovative and advanced, functional robots integrated into a professional kitchen. The robot has the flair & skills comparable to professional chefs. The prototype was showcased at the International Robotics Show, and the consumer version of the innovative solution is set for the launch in late 2020. Similarly, Wilkinson Baking Company offers an automated solution for the production of bread called the Mini Bakery. The computerized solution mixes forms bakes and cools the bread all on its own. Mini Bakery also informs the employees when the bread needs to be sliced. This breadbot is full of innovative features such as automation, consistent ingredient measurement, small footprint, and others. Such factors are anticipated to drive the growth of the global cooking robot market during the forecast period.
Restraints
High Maintenance and Replacement Costs
One of the major restraining factors for the global cooking robotics market is the high cost associated with installation of cooking robots. High capital expenditure associated with the cost of robots along with the maintenance, programming, and integration is amidst the key factors associated with the cost metrics which is inhibiting the adoption of cooking robots across different commercial spaces. Moreover, in certain cases, custom integration of cooking robots is required, which further amplifies the cost of cooking robots. As small & medium-sized enterprises are primarily engaged in low volume utility, ROI is a huge concern. Additionally, fluctuation in economies across the world and the lack of skilled workforce that can understand the output results are some of the additional factors anticipated to hamper the growth of the global cooking robot market.
Competitive Landscape
Some of the affluent industry leaders in the global cooking robot market are Café X, Miso Robotics, Mechanical Chef, Moley Robotics, Picnic, Admatic Solutions (RoboChef), The Wilkinson Baking Company, Chowbotics, Karakuri Ltd., Creator, and Briggo Inc.
