While vending machines can dispense hot food items, RoboBurger is taking the concept one step further. This all-in-one fridge, griddle, and cleaning device will take your order, cook your burger from scratch, and deliver it in about seven minutes — all without a human to take your order, man the grill, or serve it to you.

"We're not here to really replace the service industry," CEO Audley Wilson said. "We really supplement needs, and we provide a hot, high-protein burger in places where no one else can. So it's not really here to replace the lunch rush. It's here to just get you a burger at convenient locations when you need it."

RoboBurger has been in development for 17 years. Its latest prototype has found a home in Newport Centre Mall in Jersey City, N.J. The current burger uses a Pat LaFrieda beef patty and Martin's potato roll. It can dispense melted cheese, ketchup, or mustard on request. The device is certified by the NSF (formerly known as the National Sanitation Foundation) in line with U.S. food safety regulations.

Wilson sees it as an opportunity to help the service industry, which has been struggling with staffing issues since the pandemic began, as well as provide other higher-paying jobs in the area, including robotics-based jobs. In addition, it needs maintenance and operations staff to run the machines,

"We have our manufacturing arm which is based in Newark, and what we do is we build our units," he said. "We source locally, and we hire great employees here in the New York area and teach them how to build robots."

Operations teams are based around the country to service and resupply units in the region.

In the future, the company hopes to add more condiments as well as other kinds of proteins, including plant-based meat and chicken burgers. It is aiming for 100 units in use by the end of the year, expanding to thousands starting in 2023.

"We really hope to be one of the largest burger chains in the country," he said. 

Share:
More In Business
Klarna shares jump 30% on Wall Street debut
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Musk loses crown as world’s richest to software giant Larry Ellison
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Load More