Diversify Its Unmanned Sales Platform Business
Pulmuone announced on the 12th that it is launching the 'Robot Chef,' a smart unmanned instant cooking vending machine that serves up hot food on demand with a robot for the first time in Korea to diversify its unmanned sales platform business.
Through the launch of the 'Robot Chef,' Pulmuone plans to expand its unmanned sales product portfolio beyond the existing 'Chulchul(which means the feeling of hunger in Korean) Box's range of room temperature, refrigerated, and frozen convenience foods to include 'One Bowl Meal' products such as noodles and rice dishes cooked with broth on demand, with an aim to diversify the unmanned sales platform business.
The 'Robot Chef' is a smart device that cooks hot food with frozen products immediately upon order, ready in about 90 seconds. The device measures 1.9 meters in height and 1.0 meter in width and includes a 27-inch screen for displaying visuals, a 15.6-inch menu selection screen operated by touch, an automatic opening and closing cooking chamber, and a utensil compartment. When a menu item is selected and paid for, the robot inside the machine cooks it at high temperatures, providing restaurant-quality hot meals. Currently, three types of fresh noodle dishes (spicy beef soup, tonkotsu ramen, and spicy seafood noodle soup) are ready to be served, and the menu will gradually expand to include specialty noodle dishes and soups that cater to Korean consumer preferences.
The 'Robot Chef,' like Pulmuone’s existing refrigerated and frozen snack unmanned sales platform 'Chulchul Box,' has the advantage of operating unmanned restaurants and providing customized corporate welfare services without on-site management personnel. It also employs mobile app-based services, IoT technology, and real-time inventory management systems. Improvements have been made through internal trial operations since June of this year, and the final preparations for launch including KC certification (electrical appliance safety certification) are currently underway. Pulmuone plans to begin full-fledged business operations this month, starting with proposing the operation of the 'Robot Chef' to businesses such as public institutions, corporate facilities, schools, and other sites where 'Chulchul Box' is already in operation.
After signing an investment agreement with the US smart vending machine startup 'Yo-Kai Express' in August last year through its US subsidiary, Pulmuone has been preparing for the launch of the 'Robot Chef' in earnest. Yo-Kai Express is a food tech company headquartered in California, U.S. that installs and operates automated cooking vending machines in various locations, including airports, hotels, hospitals, and university campuses across the United States. Through the investment agreement with Yo-Kai Express, Pulmuone secured exclusive rights for the business related to Yo-Kai Express automated cooking equipment in Korea and has continued to cooperate for infrastructure development and business activation.
"The 'Robot Chef' is the first case of launching a new business through Pulmuone's Digital Transformation tactics which marks the beginning of its global X&D business," said Jeong-min Nam, Managing Director of Food Innovation Business in charge of Pulmuone's unmanned platform business. "By rapidly expanding into various businesses with high demand for smart unmanned restaurants, we will establish ourselves as an exemplary case of food tech specifically in the perspective of unmanned systems."
Pulmuone previously introduced the 'Chulchul Box Smart Vending Machine,' which can handle short-shelf-life fresh food items, and the 'Chulchul Box Smart Showcase,' which can sell frozen convenience foods, signaling its entry into the domestic unmanned sales platform market in 2019. The company has expanded its business to include unmanned snack bars offering snacks, beverages, salads, sandwiches, and convenience foods, as well as a model of unmanned in-house restaurants where customers can pre-order and pick up diet-oriented lunch boxes via an app. Pulmuone has also expanded its presence by entering various companies and institutions, including POSCO, HYBE, Seoul National University Hospital, and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.