Camile Thai embraces new tech as a leader in the food delivery industry

The pioneering franchise was heavily discussed in a recent Food Navigator article exploring the use of innovative technology in food service.

This article perfectly exemplified Camile Thai’s forward-thinking approach and speedy trajectory of growth. The restaurant franchise was established in 2012, and has since expanded into a network of 40 incredible locations across the UK and Ireland. This expansion looks set to continue, and Camile Thai is poised to become a technological leader in the field of food delivery thanks to its planned logistical adjustments and the installation of semi-autonomous woks.

In the words of Camile Thai CEO Brody Sweeney, “A business like ours is more of a logistics business than a restaurant business. For example, we take an order, prepare it, cook it, pack it and dispatch it all within 30 minutes. On Saturday night you could have 70 orders in the kitchen at the same time. An average order in our business is 2.2 main courses - that's over 150 dishes in various stages of preparation. So, we use a lot of software to try and manage that process to make sure the right food goes into the right bags and goes to the right address in 30 minutes.”​

The aforementioned woks, known as Robowoks, are planned to be introduced in 2022. Once they are, Camile Thai is confident that prep will be quicker, consistent cooking will be easier, and labour costs will be saved. The franchise's wok-based cooking is typically produced by five cooks per restaurant, but when the Robowoks are installed it will over require two people, meaning the business will save up to 60%. In Brody’s words, “Most other areas of production have had a high degree of mechanism over time, and the restaurant kitchens are one of the last bastions of high labour industries that haven't really changed.”

Brody wants to make this change, explaining that, “A fact of life for us is dealing with companies like Deliveroo and Just Eat, who charge incredibly high commissions. So we need to look and see where we can make savings in the business. One of the areas we looked at was on the production line.” Find out more about investing with this innovative, tech-savvy Thai franchise via Camile Thai’s profile page, which you’ll discover linked above.