Autocado processes avocados for guacamole. | Photo courtesy of Vebu
Serve Robotics is buying itself an avocado robot.
The autonomous delivery company said Thursday that it is acquiring Vebu, the maker of the Autocado, a machine that processes avocados for guacamole.
Autocado is best known for its connection to Chipotle Mexican Grill, which is testing the bot in some of its restaurants. Chipotle also has a stake in the company via its Cultivate Next venture fund. That stake will transfer to Serve as part of the acquisition.
Autocado can halve, skin and pit up to 25 pounds of avocados in about 30 minutes. The robotic hopper has cut Chipotle’s guac prep time in half and could also save millions of dollars in food cost by reducing waste, according to Vebu.
For Serve, the deal gives it another robot to offer restaurant customers and expands its offerings into the back-of-house for the first time. But perhaps most importantly, it gives the company a major new customer in Chipotle, the ninth-largest restaurant chain in the U.S.
San Francisco-based Serve also has relationships with Shake Shack and 7-Eleven, as well as a key partnership with Uber Eats, which is using its bots to deliver food in Los Angeles.
Vebu founder and CEO Buck Jordan will join Serve as SVP of kitchen automation. Jordan previously founded Miso Robotics, the maker of kitchen robot Flippy.
Serve was created by delivery provider Postmates in 2018. After Uber acquired Postmates in 2020, it was spun off as its own company. Uber has since invested in Serve and helped take it public via a reverse merger last year.
Serve’s AI-powered, four-wheeled rovers travel on sidewalks. They have Level 4 autonomy, meaning they can operate for extended periods without human intervention, though they are monitored by remote “pilots.”
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