Chinese food chains are on a shopping spree. Are stir-frying robots becoming a hot commodity?

Recently, a "robot craze" has swept through the Chinese cuisine circle.

Chain brands such as JD's Qixian Xiaochu, Guoquan, Xiaocaiyuan, and Laoxiangji are all frantically snapping up cooking robots.

Some people spend 100 million yuan at once to buy 2,000 units. Some brands directly introduce robots into hundreds of stores. When announcing an expansion goal of "10,000 stores in 3 years", the planned number of robots to be purchased is as high as tens of thousands.

What kind of "magic weapon" is this cooking robot that makes catering enterprises go crazy?

Some say it is a "cost - cutting tool". One unit can replace 2 - 3 chefs, directly reducing labor costs by 40%.

Others praise it as the "king of efficiency". It can finish a dish that originally takes 10 minutes in just 3 minutes and remain calm during peak hours.

Moreover, some value its ability to make dishes in hundreds of stores taste the same, perfectly solving the long - standing problem of standardizing Chinese cuisine.

However, some people have doubts: Can the dishes cooked by this machine have the "wok hei" of a master chef's stir - frying? Can small and medium - sized restaurants afford the price of tens of thousands of yuan? Can consumers really accept these "soulless" machine - cooked dishes?

Today, let's have a good chat about this extremely popular cooking robot and see if it is the "life - saving straw" for catering enterprises or an over - hyped "conceptual product".

01

Chinese cuisine chains are on a shopping spree, and cooking robots have become a hot commodity.

This year, the emergence of "Qixian Xiaochu" under JD has once again drawn attention to cooking robots.

It is reported that the "Meishan Lion" cooking robot introduced by Qixian Xiaochu, developed by Xianglu Technology, perfectly replicates the cooking techniques of master chefs. It also provides a perfect closed - loop model of a cooking machine + recipe program + intelligent kitchen management system. With a maximum power of 3,500W, it can truly reproduce the stir - frying process.

One person can operate three devices to handle a large number of orders. A dish of stir - fried beef with peppers that originally takes 10 minutes can be completed in just 3 minutes. If it achieves its goal of building 10,000 stores in 3 years, the number of cooking robots it purchases will be as high as tens of thousands.

In addition to JD's large - scale procurement and investment in cooking robots, Guoquan is also preparing to create "community stir - fried dishes".

According to Jiemian News, Guoquan plans to use cooking robots to cook dishes by investing in Panda Master, aiming to solve problems such as "not knowing how to cook, not being able to cook well, and finding it troublesome to cook" in home cooking. It is also developing a new store format - Guoquan Xiaochao. Currently, the store is still in the preparation stage and is planned to open soon.

Before Guoquan and JD, Chinese fast - food brands such as Xiaocaiyuan, Laoxiangji, and Bawan also made early arrangements.

According to the prospectus released by Xiaocaiyuan at the beginning of this year, Xiaocaiyuan started testing cooking robots in 2023. By this year, its self - developed cooking machine in stores has reached the third generation. It plans to spend 100 million yuan to purchase 2,000 cooking robots priced at 50,000 yuan each.

Xiaocaiyuan said in its prospectus that the cooking robot "has precise operation and seasoning, and stable dish taste".

Xiaocaiyuan has high hopes for cooking robots. For example, in 2024, Yu Mingzhu, the secretary of Xiaocaiyuan's board of directors, said in an interview with a reporter from Daily Economic News: "If the cooking robot can maximize its functions, the proportion of kitchen staff can be reduced. Currently, more time is needed for observation."

Laoxiangji has automated more than half of its offline stores. For example, its prospectus reveals that as of April, 388 of its restaurants use automatic equipment, including intelligent cooking robots, intelligent steamers, and intelligent chicken soup stoves. It also said that it plans to use part of the funds raised from its listing to purchase 3,000 cooking robots.

Bawan started self - developing cooking robots as early as 2016. After years of development, the cooking robot has completed three iterations and is now in its third generation. It has a single - axis double - support structure and can rotate in place to serve dishes without manual assistance. As of the end of 2024, Bawan has more than 500 stores nationwide, all equipped with cooking robots.

With the investment of the above - mentioned brands, more and more catering enterprises are joining the "rush to buy" wave of cooking robots. Fast - food brands such as Nonggengji, Jindingxuan, and Micun Bibimbap have also used cooking robots to varying degrees.

Xiangtianxia Hot Pot has "outsourced" the fried rice work to robots in some of its domestic stores. Several years ago, more than 70 stores of Haidilao used automatic pot - matching machines.

As the demand from catering enterprises soars, the consultation volume and sales of leading cooking robots have also skyrocketed. According to the monitoring of Aowei Cloud Network, in 2024, the online market sales of cooking robots in China reached 290 million yuan, with a sales volume of about 140,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 54.4%.

Foshan Renxin Robot Co., Ltd. received more than 3,000 orders in 2024, and it is expected that the orders for cooking robots will increase by nearly 10,000 in 2025.

Tineco, a cooking robot brand under Ecovacs, sold about 1,000 commercial cooking robots in the first half of 2025, with more than 200 cooperative merchants. The sales volume in the first half of the year was more than twice that of the whole year in 2024.

02

What is a cooking robot and what capabilities does it have?

To understand why catering enterprises are investing in cooking robots, we first need to figure out what a cooking robot is and what specific functions it has. Only in this way can we more clearly understand the logic behind catering enterprises' large - scale procurement of cooking robots this year.

So, what is a cooking robot? In essence, a cooking robot transforms the entire process of a chef's cooking techniques, such as automatic stir - frying, seasoning, and temperature control, into a language that machines can recognize and interpret. Then, it uses modern technologies such as mechanical equipment, automatic control, and computers to simulate, complete, or even automatically complete cooking skills such as roasting, frying, steaming, and cooking, as well as apply a large amount of cooking knowledge and methods mastered by chefs.

The development of cooking robots can be traced back to around the 1990s. Some also say it can be traced back to the early 21st century.

In terms of application, the world's first robot capable of cooking Chinese cuisine was successfully developed by Fanxing Technology in 2005.

In 2017, cooking robots entered the stage of technological iteration, and the combination of AI and cooking robots emerged.

Especially in 2022, the concept of using AI technology to improve the invisible service of cooking robots to people was proposed. By 2025, cooking robots entered the large - scale application stage.

Currently, the market size of intelligent cooking machines in China has increased from 1.55 billion yuan in 2020 to 3.87 billion yuan in 2022. Some even predict that the future market size of cooking robots will exceed 10 billion yuan.

After years of research and development, cooking robots have many core functions.

Firstly, it has a fully automatic cooking process. It only takes 2 - 4 minutes from the start to the end of cooking, far exceeding manual cooking. With simple settings, it can automatically complete the cooking process.

Secondly, it has multi - functional cooking capabilities. Whether it is stir - frying, boiling, steaming, or stewing, commercial robots can handle them all.

Thirdly, it has precise temperature control. Since the cooking robot is equipped with an AI temperature control algorithm, it can replicate the chef's fire control formula and techniques 1:1. It can raise the pot temperature to 300°C within 15 seconds and achieve precise temperature control.

Fourthly, it offers standardization. Through a preset program device, all recipes are input into the cooking robot in advance, so that it can cook consistent dishes according to the programmed methods.

Fifthly, it supports one - key cooking. Cooking robots cover classic dishes from eight major Chinese cuisines. All systems can call cloud recipes to achieve one - key automatic cooking and standardized meal delivery. Through cloud management, recipes can be updated synchronously in thousands of stores across hundreds of cities.

With these functions, according to specific scenarios, cooking robots are divided into two types: household cooking robots and commercial cooking robots. Household cooking robots are designed for family users, used for convenient daily cooking to meet people's cooking needs.

The developed household cooking robots support remote control via mobile phone apps. Users can set recipes and reserve cooking times in advance. For example, office workers can set the dinner menu before getting off work and enjoy hot meals when they get home.

These robots are usually smaller in size, similar to ordinary rice cookers. They can be placed in kitchen cabinets at home, and some even have a self - cleaning function, which can be rinsed directly after use. In addition to stir - frying, they can also be used for making soups, stews, and baking.

Currently, household cooking robots have not made a big splash in the C - end market. The commercial robots are still the focus of attention in the market. Commercial robots are designed for commercial scenarios such as restaurants, fast - food restaurants, and central kitchens, used for batch and rapid meal delivery to meet high - frequency cooking needs.

Currently, commercial robots are divided into several types: open - type intelligent cooking robots, closed - type intelligent cooking robots, drum - type cooking robots, and tray - type cooking robots.

Among them, the drum - type cooking robot has a large capacity and good energy - saving effect. One person can operate three units, which is suitable for group meals and large - pot cooking.

The closed - type cooking robot can effectively prevent foreign objects from entering the oil pan, reduce environmental pollution in the kitchen, and produce less noise.

The open - type intelligent cooking robot uses planetary stir - frying at the bottom of the pot, ensuring more even heating. The pot body can withstand temperatures up to 400°C and can quickly achieve high - temperature stir - frying.

As for the tray - type cooking robot, it can be directly used for making prepared food packages or cooking pre - cut vegetables.

03

A "robot storm" has swept through Chinese cuisine kitchens. Why have cooking robots become a hot commodity?

Recently, a "robot storm" has swept through the Chinese cuisine chain industry. Many merchants are buying cooking robots in large quantities, which is really curious. What exactly is a cooking robot and what capabilities does it have that make Chinese cuisine chain enterprises go crazy?

1. Firstly, it significantly reduces labor costs and addresses the difficult problem of recruiting chefs.

For some large - scale and chain - operated catering enterprises, one of the biggest pain points is the labor cost problem, which is reflected in the following aspects:

Firstly, the labor cost is high. As the chairman of Sichuan Xiongmao Master Technology Co., Ltd. revealed to a reporter from 21st Century Business Herald, at the peak of his catering business, he needed to manage more than 600 chefs. Just the monthly salary for the chef team was as high as 8 - 9 million yuan.

Secondly, it is difficult to recruit workers. Data from the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau shows that chefs have been on the list of the most in - demand occupations in the country for three consecutive years. The average age of food delivery workers is 25 years old, while the average age of chefs is 45 years old.

Thirdly, there is a serious loss of talent. Currently, many core chefs and technical backbones are frequently changing jobs to get better promotion opportunities and higher positions, which further increases the turnover rate of chefs.

The emergence of cooking robots has well solved these problems. Cooking robots can replace some of the chefs' work, and one person can operate multiple cooking robots.

The operator can automatically feed ingredients, stir - fry, and pour the prepared ingredients into the pot according to the intelligent recipe. This greatly reduces the labor cost.

For example, Zhu Quan, the chairman