This holiday season, feast on the bounty of food-themed stories NVIDIA Blog readers gobbled up in 2022. Startups in the retail industry -- and particularly in quick-service restaurants -- are using NVIDIA AI and robotics technology to make it easier to order food in drive-thrus, find beverages on store shelves and have meals delivered. They're accelerated by NVIDIA Inception, a program that offers go-to-market support, expertise and technology for cutting-edge startups. For those who prefer eye candy, artists also recreated a ramen restaurant using the NVIDIA Omniverse platform for creating and operating metaverse applications. Toronto startup HuEx is developing a conversational AI assistant to handle order requests at the drive-thru speaker box.

At multiple restaurants operated by one of its franchisees, Outback Steakhouse is testing machine learning (ML) technology from Presto. The test is focused on the restaurant lobby, but could grow to the kitchen, curbside pickup and dining room areas, CNBC reported. Presto Founder and CEO Rajat Suri said the technology assists restaurants in fixing blind spots, noting that "managers can't be everywhere at all times." Cameras capture and analyze the actions of waiters, hosts and customers to bolster diner satisfaction. The technology can track cleanliness (or lack thereof) of lobbies, extended wait times and the number of diners who leave without being acknowledged or shown to a table.

At multiple restaurants operated by one of its franchisees, Outback Steakhouse is testing machine learning (ML) technology from Presto. The test is focused on the restaurant lobby, but could grow to the kitchen, curbside pickup and dining room areas, CNBC reported. Presto Founder and CEO Rajat Suri said the technology assists restaurants in fixing blind spots, noting that "managers can't be everywhere at all times." Cameras capture and analyze the actions of waiters, hosts and customers to bolster diner satisfaction. The technology can track cleanliness (or lack thereof) of lobbies, extended wait times and the number of diners who leave without being acknowledged or shown to a table.