How Cafe Spice Boosted Output by 2-3x With Chef Robotics
August 7, 2025 | 1 min to read
Beyond increasing output and lowering food giveaway by 67%, Cafe Spice has addressed labor shortages through enhanced automation. The company specializes in Indian and South Asian-inspired ready-to-eat meals, supplying major retailers like Whole Foods and Kroger. The new production facility in Beacon, New York boosts manufacturing capacity, enabling Cafe Spice to efficiently manage its diverse product lineup despite the challenges of a high-mix production environment.
Beyond increasing output, Cafe Spice was able to ease labor shortage constraints and lower food giveaway by 67%.
Cafe Spice is a food manufacturer specializing in Indian and South Asian-inspired meals. It manufactures ready-to-eat meals under the Cafe Spice brand, available at major retailers like Whole Foods, Kroger, and Costco. The company also supplies private-label and co-manufactured products to major retailers, foodservice providers, and institutional customers across the United States. In 2024, Cafe Spice opened a new production facility in Beacon, New York, expanding its manufacturing capacity to meet increased demand from its growing network of partners and customers.
Before using Chef, Cafe Spice found it difficult to automate its high-mix production environment. The company was producing 12 different curry entrées, resulting in even more stock keeping units (SKUs) when accounting for portion sizes and tray types. Traditional machines can’t consistently portion this many ingredients or meet a short enough changeover time between SKUs. Cafe Spice’s inability to automate its production lines caused the following issues.
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