Foodservice

Sodexo deploys AI-enabled automated cafeteria management tool

Image courtesy of Sodexo.

January 19, 2021

Sodexo, one of the world's largest catering service providers, is partnering with Huawei France to provide a cafeteria management tool that eliminates the need for a manual cashier and provides fully automated settlement, order and turnover statistics and real-time nutrition and calorie information, according to a press release.

The company has launched its Seefood intelligent settlement solution using Huawei Atlas AI software and hardware which combine AI image recognition into the settlement phase to automatically recognize dishes, calculate prices and complete settlement via cards and mobile terminals.

This solution uses deep metric learning to accurately recognize each dish in 0.3 seconds. It learns rapidly and can instantly recognize the distinguishing features of a dish after the cafeteria operator inputs a new dish image.

The solution not only eliminates the need for manual cashier intervention to drastically cut queuing time, but delivers healthier, tech-driven and more personalized services for diners.

A cafeteria that serves 2,000 people can accelerate settlement speed from 20 seconds per person to three seconds, increase the number of people served per hour from 180 to 1,200, and implement 24/7, real-time operation data management and analysis.

Currently, the solution has been deployed at Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters, as well as other large enterprises, hospitals and universities in cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai in China.