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Robotics Businesses The Almighty Buck Technology

Zume Is Laying Off Half Its Staff and Shuttering Its Robotic Pizza Delivery Business (cnbc.com) 58

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: SoftBank-backed Zume is laying off 360 employees, accounting for about 50 percent of its workforce, and shuttering its robotic pizza business to focus on food packaging. SoftBank invested $375 million in Zume in 2018, giving the start-up a $1 billion valuation. Previously, Zume was valued at just $218 million and had risen $71 million in total, according to Pitchbook. Like other SoftBank-backed startups, Zume used the capital to quickly scale and increase its workforce. But, over the last year, investors have shifted their focus from "growth at all costs" to a clearer path to profitability.

Zume CEO and founder Alex Garden tells CNBC that it's a difficult day for the startup, but the changes being made will focus the business on "the inventions that are showing strong commercial traction." Garden says the company is creating 100 open roles in the Source Packaging unit that employees can reapply for. Pizza Hut has been testing Zume's round boxes on a limited basis. Zume's packaging -- which the company says is covered by a number of patents -- is made of sustainably harvested plant fiber and is industrially compostable.
The robot pizza company, which launched in 2015, consisted of an army of robot sauce-spreaders and trucks packed full of ovens. Garden's goal at the time was to become the "Amazon of food."
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Zume Is Laying Off Half Its Staff and Shuttering Its Robotic Pizza Delivery Business

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  • by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @08:10AM (#59602486)
    ... was a few toppings short of a pizza.
    • Some of their ideas sounded stupid when I first heard them, and I still think they're dumb. Ovens on the delivery car? Why? And somehow, that's supposed to make things more sustainable, having ovens that you haul around instead of centralized pizza production point? The pizza making robots, sure, that sounds fine, after all no robot ever dropped a hair in your food, but the ovens in cars thing make it look like the whole company was based on gimmicks. Maybe their packaging side is better.
      • by Anonymous Coward

        according to this promotion video :
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

        • by ChromeAeonuim ( 1026946 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @09:53AM (#59602800)
          I stand corrected; their robots are stupid too. They've got a robot that puts on some sauce, another that spreads it, another that moves the pizza, and everything else is done by humans. That's not making things with robots, if anything, they look like they would get in the way more often than they would help. And I love how they act as if using Google maps is somehow impressive when they talk about delivery.

          That whole thing looked like nothing more than a bunch of high tech buzzwords and half-baked, over-complicated solutions in search of a problem. And according to a quick search of Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], these people somehow raised over $400 million for that. Incredible.
          • I stand corrected; their robots are stupid too. They've got a robot that puts on some sauce, another that spreads it, another that moves the pizza, and everything else is done by humans. That's not making things with robots, if anything, they look like they would get in the way more often than they would help. And I love how they act as if using Google maps is somehow impressive when they talk about delivery. That whole thing looked like nothing more than a bunch of high tech buzzwords and half-baked, over-complicated solutions in search of a problem. And according to a quick search of Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], these people somehow raised over $400 million for that. Incredible.

            You missed the conveyor belt; it's really more like a semi-automated assembly line. But assembly plant robots are far, far more sophisticated.

            IMO, they were stingy on the cheese, and the "baking en-route" idea would require ludicrous timing. And honestly, I'd get DiGiorno if it's delivered that way.

          • Worked with a guy who worked for the automation shop that did their original robot line. He said that they disregarded literally every piece of advice they gave, and wanted lots of arms to look cooler. Guess that really worked out for them...
          • by Joosy ( 787747 )

            And I love how they act as if using Google maps is somehow impressive when they talk about delivery.

            Yes, that is impressive ... and did you notice that the delivery is being done by pilots?

          • Honestly, the Costco pizza process is more automated than this. A person puts a ball of dough in a machine that shapes the crust. They then move it to another machine which applies the sauce. They then throw on cheese and toppings and put the pizza on a conveyor.

          • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

            That whole thing looked like nothing more than a bunch of high tech buzzwords and half-baked, over-complicated solutions in search of a problem. And according to a quick search of Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], these people somehow raised over $400 million for that. Incredible.

            Well, most of that money came from Softbank which, while it has a huge bankroll, has a pretty bad track record of high profile failures (this, WeWork, Wag, etc).

        • OMG. If you haven't watched this video yet, you have to! It's an epic collection of meaningless buzz words and terrible technology. The robots do essentially nothing. They spread the sauce and put it in the oven - that's it. They don't make the dough, shape the dough, add the toppings, or even freaking take the pizza out of the oven and put it in the box. You can find machines making tortillas in supermarkets that are more advanced and useful. And this stupid idea raised billion dollars! They had a
      • by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

        When you steal concepts, [tv.com] you're supposed to improve them. A car with an oven that you actually drive while it cooks sounds about as wise to me as putting fryer tanks to make donuts in the back of a cop car -- which is to say, an accident waiting to happen.

      • When I first read about them, the idea was that by eliminating costly labor, they could spend more on better ingredients, hence a better product. Same with the delivery oven - cook the pizza en route in order to deliver it as fresh-out-of-the-oven as possible. Looking at their website now, it seems like their focus turned to being "sustainable." Maybe because they're super west coast and thought that would resonate? Agree it doesn't sound too sustainable to me, but love the original idea using robots to
        • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @09:33AM (#59602706)

          When I first read about them, the idea was that by eliminating costly labor, they could spend more on better ingredients, hence a better product. Same with the delivery oven - cook the pizza en route in order to deliver it as fresh-out-of-the-oven as possible. Looking at their website now, it seems like their focus turned to being "sustainable." Maybe because they're super west coast and thought that would resonate? Agree it doesn't sound too sustainable to me, but love the original idea using robots to give me a better pizza!

          They should have included blockchain technology to let you trace your ingredients all the way back to which teat on which cow at the artisinal dairy farm the milk came from to make your cheese, or which tray in which reclaimed coal mine in West Virginia your mushrooms grew on. That would have guaranteed them more VC money.

        • Looking at their website now, it seems like their focus turned to being "sustainable."

          That's feature-creep driven by highly-desperate and unimaginative marketing dumbasses.

          It's nothing if not entertaining.

        • Wondering if better ingredients barely matter when you take the heart and soul out of it. Some of those ingredients might taste better when they have time to cook together (like a homemade sauce) or how they are cooked. Coal-fired ovens are nice, I'm really enjoying the thinner (but not thin-crust) pizza at some of the new establishments in the city near me.
          Anyway, instead, we have a sterile lab environment and I wonder if the the smell works its way into the dough which you then taste. I do agree with you
        • by cusco ( 717999 )

          In November of 2018 writers at Spectrum, the IEEE magazine, decided to try a Zume pizza.
          https://spectrum.ieee.org/view... [ieee.org]

          Zume, the Robotic Pizza Company, Makes Pies Only a Robot Could Love

        • by DrXym ( 126579 )
          I think there is some sense in the concept of driving a truck around on a route where the pizza is cooked just in time. After all, in the traditional delivery model, the pizza has to be cooked in a restaurant and then a driver has to drive to the destination and then drive back again to get the next order. So in theory a truck with an assembly line in the back could save 50% or more time to delivery for the same order.

          The issue I think is the tech isn't capable of delivering on the promise. Restaurant "ro

      • Conceptually, I think it actually makes sense. When you drive a car, about 75% of the energy gets wasted as heat. When you use an oven, the biggest expense is the cost of the heat energy. Pair the two up and you've turned a waste product into a resource. Considering each delivery requires some driving, you have a guaranteed heat budget per delivery.

        Of course this assumes you actually do something to pipe waste heat from the car's cooling system to the oven. If all you're doing is sticking a portable
        • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

          Conceptually, I think it actually makes sense. When you drive a car, about 75% of the energy gets wasted as heat. When you use an oven, the biggest expense is the cost of the heat energy. Pair the two up and you've turned a waste product into a resource. Considering each delivery requires some driving, you have a guaranteed heat budget per delivery.

          At that point you are still probably better off using a fixed, central location to make the pizzas and just use the waste heat from the car engine to keep the food warm.

    • ... was a few toppings short of a pizza.

      I know - I mean how many Robots want to buy pizza?

    • It's 'vulture capitalism' functioning as wealth redistribution and I love it!!
  • There must be some business out there creating pizza boxes. I don't think any of them are valued at a billion dollars.
  • Sandwich (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @08:40AM (#59602530)
    I'm no invention god but such failures are obvious to me; maybe these VCs need a skeptical GenXer on their staff or something. 'A bite of a "reality sandwich", as my friend used to say.
  • by thesjaakspoiler ( 4782965 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @08:48AM (#59602538)

    she would have gotten a multitrillion dollar investment from Softbank.

  • But (Score:5, Funny)

    by LatencyKills ( 1213908 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @08:56AM (#59602554)
    What about all the music I've purchased! Plus, I totally fell in love with the brown color (https://www.amazon.com/Zune-Digital-Media-Player-Brown/dp/B000H0QDCC/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=77859171027218&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=brown+zune&qid=1578578166&sr=8-1)
    • Seriously. Got a brown one with 30 gigs of storage for like $100 bucks in early 2000 when they were still $300. Great software, organized a 1000+ song collection I had ripped before automatic internet based tagging was a thing in a couple or hours, fast with a great search feature. 6+ hour battery life (I used to take it on 80+ mile bike rides) and great playlist capabilities.

      Yeah, it was bulky, but it was also solid as a rock. Microsoft makes good hardware. They just can't compete with Apple on Cool. B
    • You can BUY music?

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Naming a service similar to a failed Microsoft product doesn't seem like a good idea.

      What's next, Clappy?

  • Ha, I thought this was for Microsoft Zune! I thought they shut down that garbage years ago!
  • by Tempest_2084 ( 605915 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @09:01AM (#59602568)
    Did anyone else read this headline as ZUNE instead of Zume? My first thought was "There's still a Zune team at Microsoft?". Never heard of Zume before and now I guess I never will.
  • Contrary to what the MSM wants you to believe, Zume isn't burying these employees at all, they have... ex-Zume'd them. ;)

  • Last mile or so. Since food preparation facilities, which can make a simple pizza, relatively abundant using light delivery vehicles, scooters, with insulated carrier like the main chains Zume was trying to disrupt a saturated market with a bulkier delivery mechanism. Zume consumes investors cash.
    • by Aereus ( 1042228 )

      It makes much more sense to just have an infrared heater in the car to maintain the eat until the delivery can be made. I think the newest Dominos delivery cars I saw in a recent CM seemed to have custom cars with a heated hatch like that behind the drivers seat.

  • Who is the hottie reporter in that clip?

  • by 4im ( 181450 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @10:27AM (#59602962)

    Leave that to Hiro Protagonist!

  • by kingbilly ( 993754 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @12:29PM (#59603462)
    coal-fired or wood-fired pizza tastes better. If you want cheap pizza, there is frozen pizza. If you feel like frozen is soulless, that is where Dominos comes in. Who would have actually wanted robot pizza? The two extremes seem like enough (coal-fired by hand at a local place, or frozen from the supermarket for cheap).


    From the article 2-3 years ago: "We are going to be the Amazon of food. [...] Just imagine Domino's without the labor component. You can start to see how incredibly profitable that can be."
    Emphasis added by me.
    Incredibly profitable? Idk, the robots aren't free and there is upkeep. Also the only reason I even got Domino's for the first time was because my sister worked there. You remove the labor, you remove the word of mouth.
    I'm not saying that undoes profit, just that "incredibly" profitable might have been overkill.
    Finally, The Amazon of Food? Amazon is a marketplace with both their own products and third-party products. And the third-party products are both supplied by third-party sellers and also Amazon sourcing them directly from manufacturers. You need to be more specific about what part of Amazon, unless it was just supposed to mean a leader in their category. Because after size, nothing else about this was similar to the operations of Amazon. I'm sure it was mostly marketing-speak for us though, as opposed to something they actually believed and/or build this now-failed model around.
  • by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @01:07PM (#59603610) Journal
    People didn't want and don't want 'robotically made foods'.
    Pre-emptive strike: STFU if you were going to say "But Rick, X, Y, and Z foods are all made using automation!" Not the same thing. Nobody wants a robitcally-made pizza, it's a dumb idea.
    • by cusco ( 717999 )

      I wouldn't care one way or the other, if it tasted good for a reasonable price. Instead it was priced like an artisan pizza and tasted like an undercooked Jenos.

      • Buddy, if you actually paid for one of these robot-made excuses for a pizza, you may as well just get a frozen pizza from the grocery store.
  • Think of the poor downtrodden robots, now unable to consume pizza unless they make it themselves, by hand!

  • ...thats ok, I fully expect to continue using my Zune [wikipedia.org] into the distant future
    ;)
  • Time and time again, I see that in any small town where businesses struggle to stay open, you've still got at least a couple of pizza places. That's because pizza is pretty inexpensive and easy to make, and you can still sell it with a high profit margin. If you need to differentiate yourself from a local competitor? It's pretty easy... just use a thinner or a thicker crust than the other guy, or come up with some different combinations of toppings, or change up the cheeses you use.

    Anything you make fresh t

  • For reasons I never quite figured out, my wife would order from them all the time. Their pizza would arrive warm and old-looking in a kind of amazing carrier. I couldn't tell you how it compares to Dominoes, since I've never ordered Dominoes in our current location, but it wasn't the most-amazing pizza I could imagine. Probably better than Costco. Eventually, after enough times, she realized that when I said "I'd be willing to drive over the ", what I really meant was "I'd rather order from and drive o

  • If robots were really such a slam-dunk cheap way to run a business, how could this have happened?

    Maybe our human jobs aren't in quite as much danger as we have thought.

  • Remind me to rename my startup. First the Ghostbusters destroy Zuul. Then Zune goes under. Now Zume is on the way out.

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