Who says vending machines don’t offer enough choice? Chowbotics Inc. has built a robot that offers salads in 1,000 different varieties around-the-clock. The Silicon Valley-based startup is hoping that the salad-making machine will ignite interest in the field of food service robotics and revolutionize consumer eating habits.

“There are lots of surveys which show that Millennials love customizable food, and this provides mass customization,” said Deepak Sekar (pictured, right), founder and chief executive officer of Chowbotics.

Sekar spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during this year’s FOOD IT: Fork to Farm event in Mountain View, California. Frick also interviewed Kelly Olazar (pictured, left), vice president of culinary services at Chowbotics, and the trio discussed potential customers and the robot’s marketing appeal. (* Disclosure below.)

Fast food chains are target

One of the target markets for the robot, named Sally, is fast food restaurant chains. Because Sally can customize a salad based on the number of calories desired, Sekar is hoping that this will attract women and families seeking healthier food alternatives.

“These people don’t always like to eat 1,000-calorie burgers,” he said.

Chowbotics handles the tricky problem of replenishing the robot by providing supplies to the restaurant or contracting with a third-party vending machine service provider, if necessary.

And if a restaurant came up with a new idea for a salad or wanted to provide a certain choice based on Chowbotics data that identified what’s really popular, the robot’s menu can be reprogrammed in less than two minutes, according to Olazar.

“Sally is incredibly user friendly,” she said.

Sekar told theCUBE that a representative from The Coca-Cola Co., which markets a 165-drink-dispensing touchscreen machine called Freestyle, stopped by his booth at the FOOD IT show and expressed interest.

“He called [Sally] the Freestyle for salads,” Sekar stated.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the FOOD IT: Fork to Farm event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for FOOD IT: Fork to Farm. Neither Western Digital Corp., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial influence on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE