I’m sure you’ve heard me say that I love to cook.  It’s my way of playing in a chem lab- one that I no longer have at my beck and call.  Oh, sure, during the days of KosherDepot and ASTRE, I had plenty of opportunities to exercise my creativity in the lab.  Nowadays, it’s just my kitchen.

So, it won’t surprise you that I’m not alone. And, what I will share with you today puts my kitchen creativity to shame.

Consider four MIT grads.  Michael Farid, Kale Rodgers, Brady Knight, and Luke Schlueter.  Who, when confronted with the fact that meals were no longer freely available to grad students, realized that they couldn’t cook anything worthwhile.

First, we have to recall that the life of a grad student is crammed with required effort, study, and research, which means finding free time to prepare a decent meal is a luxury few grad students manage to achieve.  (I was the exception at MIT.  But, that was decades ago.)  So, these four spent a fair amount of money on “fast casual” food.  (I’m willing to bet they spent as much on fast food, too, but that doesn’t enhance their story.)

And, then, given that necessity is the mother of invention…

These folks decided to see if they could create an automatic system to prepare meals.  (In their fraternity house basement!) Using fresh, wholesome ingredients.  These robotic specialists eventually realized they could replace human chefs with automated cooking pots (OK- woks) and hoppers.  More usefully, they could produce these foods in about three minutes or less.

Their system not only needs woks, but an ingredient delivery system- to get the food from the fridge to the wok- in the right sequence and in the right combination.  Where the ingredients are cooked (via induction heat) at 450 F (and seared, of course).  Once the cooking is complete, the woks tilt and disgorge their contents into a bowl.  To be garnished and served.

These four geniuses (all co-founders, but Farid is the CEO and Rodgers is the COO of the newly formed entity) also managed to corral Daniel Boulud to join their venture.  Not bad- a James Beard Outstanding Chef, Michelin stars.  Managing top notch restaurants in DC, New York, Miami, Palm Beach, Toronto, Montreal, London, and Singapore.  (Note how these four started at the bottom for their liaison 😊 .)

And, then, the team designated Sam Benson as the Executive Chef.  He had served as the sous chef under Gavin Kaysen, the Executive Chef at Café Boulud in Manhattan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=27&v=9LqqcDL99UA

The premise for Spyce?  Patrons use touch screens to choose their courses, served in compostable (disposable) bowls (running at some $7.50 for each bowl). The food is primarily health grains and vegetables, with precise calorie counts.  Precision, taste, and affordability?  And, healthy-ish food.

Once the order is placed, a wok is assigned, and the name of the patron is clearly displayed contiguously.  The ingredients are dropped into the rotating wok, cooked, and dumped.  Which then allows hot water jets to clean the woks prior to the next preparation.

Now, there ARE humans involved.  Each night, humans come in and prep the food.  (Chopping, cutting, slicing are involved in this activity.)  And, given that pumpkin seeds, cilantro, goat cheese, and the like will be used to garnish the food in the bowl, there is also a garde manger employed.  (That’s French for “keeper of the food”.)

The key point the Founders and Chefs want the patrons to understand?  While the robots perform the high volume tasks (washing, cooking), the patrons receive a delicious meal and a fantastic experience.  (They don’t want you to think this is only a technology product.)

Oh, yeah.  The blog title?   That’s the motto for the restaurant.  It’s been operational since 3 May 2018, from 10:30 AM to 10:00 pm, daily.

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