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Automated Creator burger concept unveils open-sourced pressurized takeout window amidst coronavirus crisis

Predicting consumers will remain virus averse, Creator has made a to-go window that’s completely contactless

Holly Petre, Assistant Digital Editor

April 16, 2020

1 Min Read
Creator Pressurized Takeout Window with Jeremy waving.jpg
Creator Transfer Chamber with self-sanitizing conveyor.Creator General

The makers of Creator, the fully automated burger concept in San Francisco, have designed another useful restaurant tool for a pandemic: A contact-free takeout window.

With restaurants limited to takeout and delivery, many are looking for ways to protect both guests and workers by limiting contact. Creator tweaked its burger bot to ensure guests get their burgers hot off the grill but without entering the restaurant.

"Protecting retail staff is literally a life-or-death circumstance, so we're happy to help and coordinate," founder Alex Vardakostas told Fast Company.

The Creator Transfer Chamber, as it’s called, is currently operating at Creator in San Francisco where the restaurant is takeout and delivery only. As it did before, the bot makes the burger with minimal human intervention. But now the burger is placed in a chamber with a pressurized window to the outside that is sealed off and self-sanitizing between orders.

Before meals reach the window, they are packed in hermetically double-sealed bags with a heat sealer and a tamper-evident sticker.

Because such contact-free exchanges will be increasingly in demand, Creator has open-sourced the design to make it available to any takeout operator.

Take a look at how Creator burgers are made and transferred to guests below.

For our most up-to-date coverage, visit the coronavirus homepage.

Learn lessons in leadership during a crisis from our panel of experts on Friday, April 17.

About the Author

Holly Petre

Assistant Digital Editor

Holly Petre is a digital editor for Nation’s Restaurant News as well as the host of NRN’s podcast, Extra Serving, and producer for Informa Restaurant and Food Group’s other three podcasts, One On One by Food Management, Off the Shelf with SN and In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn. Holly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture, fibers and Material Studies and Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A native New Yorker, Holly enjoys her place on staff as the resident pop-culture expert and millennial with a sassy attitude and great sense of style.

Holly Petre’s work on Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality often covers marketing and trends, either aimed-at or examined-through the millennial mindset. Holly is responsible for introducing TikTok and Twitch to NRN and RH readers as well as explaining terms like “Karen” to staff and readers alike. She also spends her time on staff trying not to make every headline a pun.

Holly Petre hasn’t spoken at any events or on panels, but she is readily available with a killer shoe wardrobe and several witty quips.

 

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