Project Title
Smart Kitchens
Company
Gastronomous Technologies Inc.
Location
Oakville, Ontario
Funding Amount
$1,919,655
Project Description
This project received funding through the CFIN’s Food Innovation Challenge to develop smart, connected kitchen equipment -- ranging from food ingredient preparation to the accurate, automated portioning and dispensing of those ingredients.
Why CFIN Is Funding This Project
This project aligns with CFIN’s strategic interest in projects that create smart products and processes.
Gastronomous is developing autonomous kitchen appliances that will ease the workload of restaurant kitchen staff by automating specific repetitive tasks. This approach will make it easier for restaurants to integrate new smart machines into their existing kitchens to achieve more product consistency and enhance food safety.
As foodservice businesses struggle to find enough staff – a challenge that’s been amplified since the pandemic – Gastronomous' technology can ease this labour crunch by automating monotonous food preparation jobs and freeing up budget for companies to create more appealing customer-centric and creative jobs.
The project is in partnership with Recipe Unlimited, Canada’s oldest and largest full-service restaurant company, and Sodexo Canada Limited, a foodservices and facilities management company. The collaboration will help ensure Gastronomous’ solutions are customer-oriented and effective at meeting the needs of the foodservice industry.
Benefits to Canadians
Adopting automation and smart technologies in restaurants and foodservice environments will improve efficiency by reducing food waste and address ongoing labour shortages in the industry. Ultimately, this will make the sector stronger, more competitive and more resilient to future challenges.
Market Adoption/Global Opportunity
Automation is part of the food service kitchen of the future, both here in Canada and abroad. Post pandemic, restaurants everywhere are looking for new ways of doing things and solutions that they can efficiently and affordably integrate into their existing operations as they not only rebuild but position themselves for growth.
What is particularly advantageous for food service employers is that adopting Gastronomous technology can be done without a large-scale kitchen remodel, making it accessible to a larger segment of the industry. It also makes employee adoption easier as it doesn’t require staff to completely re-learn how their kitchens work and flow.
The company’s growth has been rapid, signaling the industry’s interest in and readiness for smart solutions. Since the beginning of 2023 alone, Gastronomous has added three software engineering position, three field technician jobs and one business development position to its employee roster to keep pace with the growing demand.
Executive Perspective