2020: the year of robo-baristas at SFO, SJC (and other airports too?)

Shortly after meeting Cafe X chief operating officer Cynthia Yeung, I was introduced to their three generations of robotic barista — Michael, Robin. Francisco the Second. (No mention of what had become of Francisco the First.) Yeung said back then that she anticipated another model would be gracing San Francisco international airport that Fall, and I briefed friends to look out for it on their next trip through SFO. By December, friends kept reporting back that they were getting their coffee at the terminal from… people.

It turned out no such branch had threw open its doors; and Yeung herself — an ex-Googler and an ex-Softbanker — had vanished from the firm like Francisco the First. She is now a consultant at Diligent Robotics , an Austin-based firm designing robots for hospitals; their robots offer healthcare assistance rather than coffees. No flight of fancy But the idea of airport robo-baristas has ultimately proved to be no mere flight of fancy.

Instead, the robo-coffee cudos had been transferred to San Jose International, where the first new model — nicknamed Peter — began trading at the end of November. Luckily, the SF jetsetters did not too have much longer to wait: on 27 December, Cafe X began trading its San Francisco airport branch too in Terminal 3.

The outlet’s robot — nicknamed Finn — kicked off work just in time to see in the new decade. “This machine was fully engineered by our in-house team. Is designed to be manufacturable at scale,” Cafe X CEO Henry Hu informed me in a LinkedIn message, referring to SFO’s Finn, which is the business’s V2.1 model, identical to Peter in San Jose. In terms of features, the V2.1 “can now prepare up to six drinks at a time and has a larger drink menu.

It as well has an expandable section on the countertop which we can fit accessories to in the future. The first accessory we’re working on is a shelf to serve pastries.” Cafe X at SJC and SFO use locally-sourced elements including California-roasted coffee beans from Ritual Coffee, Equator Coffees, and Intelligentsia Coffee.

Cafe X will in addition be offering pastries from Third Culture Bakery , the creators of the Original Mochi Muffin and Butter Mochi Donuts. The locations will be staffed during peak hours by Cafe X’s human team of Robotic Cafe Operators and Coffee Specialists, who provide customer service and product education to travelers at SJC.

For the rest of its never-ending shift, the robot works alone. Cafe X machines can be installed in locations at airports where it would be impossible to build a traditional cafe. It can operate 24/7.” Bitter Competition Hu will have little time to rest on his laurels about airport launches; he still has a healthy froth of competition brimming in the Bay Area and beyond.

In New York, there’s Truebird building AI-driven micro-cafes also aiming to line the walls of hospitals, airports and offices. Then there are a spate of similar-minded companies that have in addition sprung up in China, Korea and elsewhere in Asia, like Ratio.

And it’s clearly not just all about caffeine in the automation rush for the food and drink service trade. Sunnyvale-based Blendid has its Chef B, which will mix you a smoothie for $6.

Financing and Distri-brew-tion Aiming to grind down this competition, Cafe X is powering ahead with work and development. For this quest — and to help pay the bills for San Francisco’s exorbitant retail rental fees, including at airports — Cafe X’s 30 plus team is funded by around $14 million worth of investments.