One of Sweetgreen’s automated restaurants in Naperville, Ill. | Source: Sweetgreen
Salad and bowl restaurant chain Sweetgreen Inc. this month sold its Spyce robotics business to Wonder Group Inc. for $186.4 million. Both Sweetgreen and Wonder said they plan to install Spyce’s Infinite Kitchen system in more locations.
Founded in 2015 by graduates of MIT, Spyce had developed an automated hopper-based approach to assembling food bowls and operated two restaurants in Boston. Sweetgreen acquired the Somerville, Mass.-based startup for about $70 million in 2021. It then shut down the sites to focus on developing Spyce’s technology for use within its own restaurants.
Sweetgreen has redesigned and commercialized the Infinite Kitchen, which is now in use in more than 20 Sweetgreen locations across the U.S. The Los Angeles-based company said it has also increased its throughput and enhanced food quality, accuracy, and consistency. However, Sweetgreen has faced its own financial challenges as the economy and demand shifted.
“We’re incredibly proud of the work our team and the Spyce team have done to develop, scale, and monetize one of the world’s most advanced robotic food technologies,” said Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen.
“We remain deeply confident in both the Infinite Kitchen’s future impact and the brilliant team behind it,” he added. “As we focus on driving long-term, profitable growth, our collaboration with Wonder will enable us to continue expanding and enhancing the Sweetgreen experience for our guests, while unlocking new opportunities for innovation and scale in the years ahead.”
Sweetgreen to continue deploying Infinite Kitchen
In return for Spyce, Sweetgreen will receive $100 million in cash plus shares of Series C preferred stock of Wonder with an implied value of $86.4 million based on Wonder’s price per share in its most recent equity financing. Sweetgreen said it plans to use the funds to “reinvest in key priorities and sharpen its focus on growth and profitability.”
In connection with the sale, Sweetgreen has signed a supply and license agreement to continue deploying Infinite Kitchens across its restaurants. As part of the agreement, 38 Spyce engineers and support staffers, including Spyce co-founders Michael Farid, Kale Rogers, Brady Knight, and Luke Schlueter, will transition to Wonder.
Wonder looks to evolve with Spyce in its cookbook
New York-based Wonder asserted that the Infinite Kitchen will further its evolution from a vertically-integrated restaurant operator to a tech-driven food platform owning both robotics and infrastructure.
“At Wonder, everything begins and ends with the customer,” said Marc Lore, founder and CEO of Wonder. “As we evolve from a first-of-its-kind, multi-restaurant operator into a truly scalable, technology-powered food platform, the acquisition of Spyce’s Infinite Kitchen gives us leading robotics capabilities that will transform how food is prepared and served.”
“This technology enables us to eventually operate more than 100 restaurants across any cuisine type and price point, all out of a small kitchen, while serving food faster, hotter, and with flawless accuracy and consistency,” he said. “It furthers our mission to make great food more accessible, bringing more restaurants to more people, in more places, at more times of day, and at more affordable prices.”
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