Five-time major golf champion Phil Mickelson has inked a deal with Generation Next Franchise Brands to franchise 30 new Reis & Irvy’s locations in San Diego County.
Reis & Irvy's serves frozen desserts, but via unconventional retail — namely, a fully autonomous robotic delivery system. Frozen dessert robots, that is.
“We have seen the development of Reis & Irvy’s over the last eight months, and became intrigued with the advancement of robotics, which enhance the delivery of quality products while reducing overhead cost,” Steve Loy said. Loy is Mickelson's business partner and also a party to the deal.
Reis & Irvy’s-branded robots can dispense servings of frozen yogurt, ice cream, gelato and sorbet topped with a selection of six toppings in under a minute, according to the company. Thus one robot can serve 60 customers per hour.
The device has self-checkout touch-screen ordering and payment options, video animation and music, which offers an element of entertainment for customers. The machines also accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment.
Reis & Irvy’s are self-contained units and take up only 15 SF, so many of them will probably find spots in other retailers, like any vending machine might.
The company asserts that the robots are more than mere vending machines, however. Rather, they are part of the cutting edge of automated retail, along with robot bartenders and robots in hotels.
“Our company has become a full-scale developer of robotics, blockchain and artificial intelligence platforms designed to disrupt traditional retail,” Generation Next Franchise Brands Chairman Nick Yates said.
For example, the company has incorporated proximity sensors into its Reis & Irvy’s robotic vending kiosks that detect and quantify passers-by — each of whom represents a potential customer.
"This real-time foot traffic data is then analyzed by sophisticated AI engines that are also tracking real-time sales data from each Reis & Irvy’s vending robot, customer preferences for different flavors and toppings — even the day’s weather — and how all this data relates to each other, to determine consumers’ behavior patterns," Yates said.
“In the near future, this data and the AI we're developing will allow us to precisely plan promotions, adjust product offerings, and better predict our needs from a supply chain perspective,” Yates said.
"Our company is working toward a future in food retail where you are served by a robot, the ‘manager’ is an AI and the supply chain is managed on the blockchain," Yates said. "We’re not too far from that today."
San Diego-based Reis & Irvy’s currently has over 275 franchisees nationwide that represent over 1,400 pending robot installations.
