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Cooking Robot ROI Calculator

Compare a kitchen robot vs adding another cook.

This calculator helps restaurant and hospitality operators sanity-check the economics of kitchen automation compared to hiring another line cook. Start with your current labor assumptions and adjust wage rate, hours, and coverage to reflect your operation.

The goal isn’t a perfect answer. It’s to see where automation realistically makes sense and where it doesn’t.

Core inputs


Robot costs


Operations

Download Excel (.xlsx)

Results and ROI with Robots

Annual labor savings
$0
Annual revenue gains
$0
Total annual impact
$0
Total annual robot cost
$0
Net annual ROI
$0
Payback period
N/A
100% Scales revenue gains only. Savings stay fixed.
Show calculation details

Savings

  • Fully burdened cost per cook: $0
  • Labor savings: $0
  • Food waste savings: $0
  • Safety savings: $0

Revenue gains

  • Faster turns / throughput: $0
  • Recovered walk-aways: $0
  • Upsell desserts: $0
  • Upsell drinks: $0
  • Realization factor: 100%

Costs

  • Annual robot cost: $0
  • Amortized install and electrical: $0

Additional Cost Savings

Food waste and consistency

Enter your current food waste and a target with automation.

Safety and workers’ comp

Estimate injury-related costs and a reduction if hot, repetitive tasks are automated.

Waitlist and walk-aways

If peak waits run long, estimate lost parties and what they would have spent.

Additional Revenue Opportunities

Upsell: desserts and drinks

Faster service can lift attach rates for desserts and paid drinks. Enter today’s rates and a realistic target.

Drive-thru / off-premise throughput

Model added orders during peak based on lanes and orders per lane.