When Austin-based Briggo non-stop adult a robotic coffee bar in San Francisco’s International Airport (SFO), we sensed some brewing tension.
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After all, there is already a venture-backed robotic coffee emporium indeed formed in San Francisco: Cafe X. The association lifted $12 million Series A about a year ago, and has 3 locations now opposite a Financial District – though until now it wasn’t in a airport.
That is about to change according to Cafe X owner and CEO Henry Hu when a association expands to SFO in November.
Is there adequate room for dual drudge coffee shops in a Bay? More importantly, is there a need? we held adult with both companies to learn about trends within food automation, engaging go-to-market strategies, and a thought of experiential java.
Austin-based Briggo Brings The Brew
Briggo, that started by portion entirely unconstrained coffee in 2011 during University of Texas, has lifted $19 million to date, and is now lifting a Series B, per CEO and co-founder Kevin Nater. For a arriving round, Briggo has already cumulative one investor: S3 Ventures, an early and expansion theatre try collateral organisation formed in Austin.
The association non-stop adult a “robotic coffee haus” in SFO in Aug to offer 24 hour coffee. This is a company’s first plcae outward of a home state of Texas.
While a roots are in Austin, Briggo’s SFO plcae serves Verve and Sightglass, dual San Francisco brands.
“[Airports] are a good place for general exposure,” Nater pronounced on a phone to Crunchbase News. He combined that a company, to boost concentration on a airfield market, has recently sealed vast contracts to enhance into mixed states opposite a largest airports in a country.
Briggo’s Nater pronounced a rival advantage is a fact that a been on a marketplace longer than many unconstrained coffee robots.
“We prosaic out have longer knowledge and some-more rendezvous with business in a Bay than Cafe X,” Nater said. “Their purchasing knowledge is flattering most a counterpart of what we were doing already.”
He added: “And they’ve got a smashing 60 grade entrance drudge that entertains a customer. But yeah, we’re substantially a small bit some-more industrial food driven, and not so most party driven.”
I held adult with Cafe X to learn if “entertaining a customer” has been an effective strategy.
San Fran’s Cafe X Brings The Fun
This tumble Cafe X will be charity an “experiential” coffee emporium to airfield goers. Since lifting a Series A, Cafe X has combined 3 locations, and with that, taken lessons from any Hu said.
Fundamentally, a barista drudge competence seem focused on speed though now Cafe X is devoting some-more appetite (and resources) to emanate ambiance.
For a arriving location, Cafe X wants to be reduction robot, some-more aged propagandize coffee. Think menu house and backdrops.
“It’s not only going to be like a waste robotic coffee bar sitting there opposite a wall,” Hu pronounced on a phone.
At initial a association outsourced a ton of a hardware engineering talent. Now, with 38 people operative during a company, Cafe X has changed those processes in-house and it has helped efficiency, pronounced Hu.
“Instead of regulating people to do repeated tasks, like pulling buttons, we consider labor should be used to do some-more prolific and some-more impactful things like educating business on a mixture and expanding a menu and doing patron service,” he said.
A Cuppa Innovation
We are, rightfully, not in a business of creation predictions about a success of startups. However, after articulate to Briggo and Cafe X, we do trust there’s room for differential creation within this space. As creation within coffee enters a lives, it will be engaging to see where automation collides with other tools of a palate.
Illustration Credit: Li-Anne Dias
