KAIKAKU

Comments by our CEO Josef Chen: "It is becoming increasingly clear that both AI and automation will require an end-to-end vertical integrated approach rather than trying to retrofit automation for a human-centric process." “Not much automation and AI has been deployed in practice as most ‘retrofit’ solutions have failed to showcase clear return on investment.". https://lnkd.in/gbt4uzvp

Why did I volunteer unpaid labour for the last 2 weeks❓ Answer: Because KAIKAKU are building the coolest hardware in London. It's been an absolute pleasure to "intern" at Kaikaku, supporting their mission of creating the most scalable restaurants in the world 🥗 I've been able to live and breathe the startup spirit - helping with assembling conveyors to training live computer vision models. There's a lot of fear about robots lacking the 'creativity and care' of humans, but as soon as you talk to any of the Kaikaku team you're immersed in the passion and the heart of the restaurant. Josef Chen, Ivan Tregear, Piers Millar and David Sharp have built an incredible team and incredible tech. If you're in the area do drop by the restaurant (Brunswick Center, Russell Square) - they're also raising now (!!) to grow even more, including a Canary Wharf location. Meanwhile, I'm off to Harvard + NY before I start my next venture! Do reach out if you're about to grab a coffee. Gian-Luca Fenocchi Jakub Radzikowski Mate Harangozo

🌟 10 Years of Innovation, Creativity, and Impact! 🌟 This weekend, we marked the 10th anniversary of the Dyson School of Design Engineering in the best way possible—by coming together as a community for the DE10 Hackathon! The DE10 Hackathon embodied everything we stand for: combining engineering excellence with bold, creative thinking to tackle complex societal challenges. For the past decade, we’ve been more than a hub of technical expertise—we’ve nurtured visionaries who turn ideas into real-world solutions. This hackathon showcased how innovative design can drive meaningful change, building a future that’s both sustainable and just. A heartfelt thank you to our amazing student organizers—Ankita Sharma, Kang Yang, Ronan Docherty, Freddie Nicholson, Nora Luo, and Aishwarya Balasundar—and our dedicated staff, Sam Cooper, Ingrid Logan, Sanjana Kakar, Anya Chetse, and Tashiana L.. We also extend our gratitude to our judges, Peter Childs, Larissa Kunstel-Tabet, and Céline Mougenot (PhD), as well as all our students, alumni and volunteers who attended and supported the event. Your hard work and commitment behind the scenes were essential to making this event a resounding success! We’re also deeply grateful to our sponsors, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Halma plc, Chkn Media, KAIKAKU, and Common Room whose generous support allowed us to bring this incredible day to life. Your contributions made a huge impact! As we look forward to the next decade of design engineering, we are excited for what’s to come. Together, we will continue to push the boundaries of innovation, building a future teeming with possibilities. 🚀 Visit the project gallery on Devpost to see all the amazing submissions: https://lnkd.in/eaNfAeUG 💻 Watch highlights of the hackathon here: https://lnkd.in/eYbx9J8C DesSoc Design Engineering Society

KAIKAKU is in the top 5% 😎 We've made it to The Focal Top 100! Out of 2,100 applicants, we received a lot of attention from VCs, and have been shortlisted as one of the top companies in the W24 cohort. Look out for us on the list at https://lnkd.in/e4qynGZ7

What our interns do on their first day. We are so back.

9 months ago we held our first scrappy demo day in a wework. Today we’ve served over 20k paying customers. Give us another 9 months and we’ll 10x that. Incredibly lucky to be working with a small but so amazingly talented team at KAIKAKU who just grind non-stop. Special shoutout from the bottom of my heart to my co-founders Piers, David, Ivan who embarked on this intense journey since day 0.

Last weekend, millions of French-speaking people got a tour of how we revolutionise restaurants on France’s largest TV channel Groupe TF1. Featuring Ivan Tregear and Josef Chen. For those who speak French, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/ep22s9rv

We engineer hardware in the heart of London. Why? Because we deploy non-stop and rapidly iterate based on real customer feedback. Hardware isn't getting easier, but development speed is accelerating at breakneck speed. It's not as fast as software yet but today's 3D printers, software for hardware and supply chains are getting us there. Most overestimate cost and underestimate how many iterations it takes to create something useful. Speed of iteration is everything and R&D doesn't have to be expensive. We've found that real-world field testing is by far the best way to discover edge cases, rather than future-proofing with costly sensors and redundancy systems from the get-go. Elegantly engineered simplicity always outperform complex systems that mask underlying design flaws. Fail, learn, improve - cheap and fast.

Soapbox Brand Spotlight 💡 Common Room Common Room is the UK’s first robotic restaurant, offering fresh whole food bowls. Common Room’s food assembly robot, Fusion, makes the food so the staff can focus what humans are good at - hospitality. Common Room recently opened its first site in Bloomsbury, London and has recently been featured in the Telegraph. They are advised by various executives including the ex-CDO of Subway, ex-CSO of Mars Inc. and ex-MD of Caffè Nero. Interested in finding out more about Common Room? Stop past the Soapbox session that will be hosted in the vaults at 11.00am. Piers Millar, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer for Common Room, will be presenting their exciting Robotic dining concept on the Soapbox stage. Haven't booked your ticket yet? Book yours today: https://lnkd.in/eMP8nJsT #soapbox #crmp24 #expandyourbrand