PASADENA, CALIF. — AI-driven commercial foodservice Miso Robotics announced a new partnership with Americana Restaurants, which will expand the company's presence internationally. The collaboration will start with the addition of Flippy 2 at Americana Restaurants’ Wimpy Grills location in The Dubai Mall, which over 100 million people visit a year.

Americana Restaurants operates some of the world's leading food and beverage brands, including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s, Krispy Kreme, Wimpy and TGI Fridays, in 13 markets across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Launched in 2021, Flippy 2 will provide Wimpy’s kitchen with a customizable robotic fry station that will help decrease order-to-delivery time, improve food consistency and create a better working environment for team members, Miso said.

Wimpy Grills has been a competing QSR in the MENA region since the 1970s. The QSR has 17 active locations across the MENA region and has planned up to 50 additional sites.

“Americana Restaurants’ partnership with Miso Robotics marks a significant milestone for the company as we continue to strive to address shifting customer behaviors and preferences through state-of-the-art, innovative solutions,” said Melvin Michael, Wimpy brand director. “As the first QSR operator in the MENA region to introduce the use of robotics in its kitchens, Americana Restaurants continues to show its commitment to delivering unique dining experiences to customers at their favorite iconic brands.”

“In the past year, we’ve announced partnerships with some of the largest brands in the US, and that momentum has led to us being pulled internationally to introduce our technology on a global scale,” said Mike Bell, chief executive officer of Miso Robotics. “Americana Restaurants’ push to scale robotics in their operations is a testament to their superb operating capability in the MENA region. This is a true partnership that we see blossoming for many years to come and we wanted to make sure the market was right for future deployment at additional locations. The time is now to take Flippy global, and we have a great partner to do it with.” 

Miso Robotics and Americana Restaurants hope to take Flippy 2 further into the Middle East and North Africa after the pilot test at Wimpy.