The firm focuses on developing automated cooking robots, with a particular focus on Chinese cuisine. Hestia/YouTube
In an era of rising operational costs and labor shortages, Hestia Technology Limited, founded in Hong Kong in 2018 by a chemistry professor, aims to revolutionize the culinary world with its innovative robotic kitchen systems.
Hestia wants to automate restaurant operations to improve efficiency and accessibility while offering traditional Chinese and international foods.
In its recently created fifth generation, robots in the company’s completely automated kitchen handle all aspects of cooking, including ingredient retrieval, preparation, serving, and cleanup, simplifying the process without requiring human involvement.
According to a Chinese news outlet, it aims to produce 30,000 units and generate $256 million (HK$2 billion) in revenue.
Automated kitchen
Hestia’s fully automated kitchen consists of several key components: a larder, a conveyor belt, and a multicooker. With these, the system can replace up to three chefs and prepare more than 200 dishes, including Chinese regional cuisines like Hunan and Sichuan and Italian fare.
The robots are designed to perform every task in the cooking process. After selecting a dish from the tablet, the robot retrieves pre-packed ingredients, adds oil and spices, stir-fries or sautés, thickens the sauce, and plates the meal.
Once the cooking is done, the robot automatically washes the equipment in under 15 seconds, ensuring that the next dish can be prepared promptly.
The secret to this efficiency lies in Hestia’s proprietary technology, which allows the system to control cooking times, temperatures, and ingredient quantities precisely.
This results in consistently high-quality dishes, regardless of the time of day or the number of orders being processed. Hestia robots can handle 60 dishes per hour, making them invaluable during busy service hours.
Furthering sustainability
Hestia’s robots aren’t just about efficiency—they’re designed with sustainability and cost-effectiveness in mind. In a traditional kitchen, inconsistencies in ingredient measurements, cooking times, and energy use can lead to waste and increased operational costs.
According to the firm, its systems are designed to eliminate these issues by using AI to optimize the cooking process. This leads to significant savings: up to 50 percent in energy costs, 66 percent in labor costs, 60 percent in oil consumption, and 65 percent in water usage.
Additionally, by reducing the need for human intervention in the kitchen, Hestia robots help prevent common occupational health issues faced by chefs, such as burns, varicose veins, and repetitive strain injuries like rotator cuff syndrome.
This allows kitchen staff to focus on more creative and customer-facing aspects of restaurant management, improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The SyncKitchen cloud
Hestia’s system also features SyncKitchen Cloud, a cloud-based platform that gives restaurant operators access to a vast library of recipes created by top chefs. Through this platform, restaurateurs can easily adapt recipes by adjusting seasoning levels, cooking times, and temperatures.
This allows for the seamless introduction of new menu items and customization of existing dishes, saving time and effort in research and development. Whether a restaurant wants to introduce regional specialties or modern twists on classic dishes, Hestia’s platform offers endless possibilities.
New engineers and food scientists at Hestia work in the kitchen for up to a month to learn dish preparation. They record the best chef’s process with thermal imaging, input data into the AI system, and refine recipes. The machine can master a dish in a day with ongoing flavor adjustments.
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Hestia claims that its AI-powered robots ensure consistency in every dish. With sensors that monitor cooking times, ingredient proportions, and temperatures, the robots can adjust cooking techniques based on the ingredients being used. This guarantees a consistency that is difficult to achieve in traditional kitchens, where human error can lead to fluctuations in food quality.
“This system can fine-tune cooking processes and menus, and oversee overall restaurant operations,” said Chen Guanhua, a professor at the University of Hong Kong and the co-founder of the company, told the South China Morning Post.
