[Report] Curious About the Future of Restaurants? CJ Freshway's 'Food Solution Fair'

B2B Food and Beverage Industry Expo 'Food Solution Fair 2023' Held
'Smart Restaurant' Operated by 12 Food Tech Partners

"Running a store alone, I always think about how to minimize ancillary tasks, and I realize there are more areas that can be automated than expected, so I am considering adopting such services."

CJ Freshway will hold the B2B foodservice industry expo, 'Food Solution Fair 2023,' for two days starting on the 18th at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul. This expo is an event where you can get an overview of the core competencies in business sectors such as food ingredient distribution, food service, and manufacturing, as well as a wide range of B2B business areas.

The most eye-catching space at this event was undoubtedly the 'Smart Restaurant,' created in collaboration with 12 food tech partner companies. The Smart Restaurant is a space that recreates a future-oriented dining business that helps alleviate labor shortages and improves cooking and service efficiency based on unmanned service technology. CJ Freshway provides technology solution services that propose devices and software programs developed by partner companies to dining and catering clients.

In the 'Smart Restaurant' at the event venue, a cooking robot is frying chicken.

At the showcased space, visitors could directly experience automation solutions covering the entire restaurant operation process, from managing customer waiting, order management, cooking, and serving to automatic packaging, dishwashing, and food waste collection.

A CJ Freshway official explained, "There are various table order and delivery solution services available in the market for dining establishments," adding, "What differentiates CJ Freshway is that we offer an integrated management service that links all digital solutions within the store through the POS (Point of Sale) system, significantly reducing the management points for business operators."

Jo Yeon-hee (34), who visited the event, also said she seriously considered adopting the service because it could reduce ancillary tasks at a relatively low cost. Jo said, "I run a home-style restaurant alone, so it’s honestly tough when two or three tables of customers come in," and added, "I never dared to hire staff for such a small store, but if I selectively use solutions only for the necessary parts to reduce my workload, I think I can focus more on cooking."

Unmanned Food and Beverage Space Operation Consulting 'Smart Corner'

The 'Smart Corner,' a consulting service for relatively easy-to-adopt unmanned operation of foodservice spaces, also attracted many visitors. The Smart Corner system allows customers to tag a card on a terminal attached to a showcase to open the door, take out products, close the door, and then make payment. It seems worth considering for business operators who lack idle space in existing foodservice areas and are looking to operate with minimal space or find ways to generate additional sales outside business hours.

In addition, CJ Freshway operates the 'Corporate Introduction Hall,' which showcases the capabilities and strengths of its business sectors; the 'Delicious Solution Hall,' which presents products based on consumers’ life cycles and solutions according to client companies’ business journeys; the 'Meal Solution Cooking Zone,' offering special experiences through chefs’ cooking; and the 'Cuisine Zone,' introducing premium ingredients and exclusive distribution brands.

The Food Solution Fair featured participation from about 70 companies, including CJ Freshway’s food ingredient distribution clients, manufacturing partners, and food tech partners. Based on the number of online pre-registrations, approximately 5,000 visitors are expected over the two days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.