This AI Camera Can Help Restaurants Show That Their Food Is Safe From Covid-19

Walk into Emilie’s, chef Kevin Tien’s restaurant in the capitol hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and you’ll find yourself alone. Only one customer is allowed in at a time. There’s an employee there to greet you, wearing a mask and gloves. You talk about the frozen rosé they’ve made with their ice cream machine before he hands over your order in a pristine white paper bag. Demonstrating these safeguards helps customers trust that their food is safe from covid-19. Now restaurant technology company Dragontail Systems is offering another way for restaurants to earn that trust, by using an artificially intelligent camera to verify critical safety measures.

It may not be an easy sell, however, as the restaurant industry hasn’t always been eager to embrace new technologies, says Dragontail co-founder and CEO Ido Levanon. “All the advancement in technology—especially artificial intelligence—all of the latest developments on the technology side unfortunately never really reached the restaurant industry,” he explains.

He and his co-founders launched Dragontail Systems in 2013 with two products. One is a system that uses an algorithm to optimize delivery efficiencies and the other is an AI camera that was initially designed to help restaurants with quality control. “About half of us [are] developers—mathematicians, data scientists—and half [are] operations people,” he says of the team. 

The company’s first customers were large chains like Domino’s in countries outside the U.S., including Australia and New Zealand. Now, they’re opening an office here in this country with the hopes of selling their newly updated AI camera to restaurants of all sizes. The restaurants are struggling right now, says Levanol, “and we believe our technology is going to make a big difference.”  

The company’s AI technology can be used to verify more than just the correct number of pepperoni slices, Levanol says. The camera can also detect those all-important safety measures. Did the employee wash their hands? Did they clean the surfaces? Are they wearing gloves? Are they wearing a mask?

“We sanitize all surfaces every twenty minutes,” explains Claire Aniela, one of the pastry chefs at Emilie’s who has taken on other responsibilities during the pandemic. There’s a long list of safety protocols that each employee must repeat throughout the day, she says, measures that even include not taking the metro or public transportation right now to avoid unnecessary exposures to covid-19.

Thinking about the AI camera kind of reminds Aniela of herself. “Lots of times I feel like a machine,” she says, “because I’m just repeating the same actions, over and over again.” But she also knows that repetition is critical. “We have to be consistent. We have to make sure everything is clean.”

If a restaurant like Emilie’s were to use Dragontail’s technology, it could allow customers to see more of what the restaurant is already doing in the kitchen, argues CEO Levanol. But could a small, single location restaurant like Emilie’s be able to afford Dragontail’s technology?

Aniela is skeptical. She finds it hard to imagine given the restaurant’s current financial situation. They’ve had to lay off most of their hourly staff, and she says Chef Tien is still paying for employees’ health insurance, even for those who were laid off. The restaurant is working to support the staff in other ways too, selling sourdough starter and donating the proceeds to a fund for workers, she says, as well as giving workers access to some of the restaurant’s pantry items. It’s not everything, says Aniela. But it’s what they can offer right now. Money is tight.

But Levanol insists Dragontail’s technology can make financial sense for restaurants like Emilie’s too. Pricing begins at $50 a month and can go up to $500, the company says, and Levanol feels confident the return on investment makes it worth it. The company wants to sell to restaurants of all sizes, he says, especially during this pandemic. “We are now going after the mom and pops and the single stores that are hurting so much,” he says.

The company’s technology can also help restaurants who suddenly find themselves in the delivery business. “Our system automatically decides which drivers should take what,” Levanol explains, which can help make the process more efficient.

Some restaurants may feel wary about bringing cameras into the kitchen, however. When Domino’s first began using the technology, some franchises were uneasy with the presence of cameras in their kitchens, Levanol admits. But the camera is positioned above the employee so that faces aren’t captured, he explains. Some of the company’s more recent customers even include kitchens at military bases who are required to keep those faces off-camera.

Artificial intelligence isn’t necessary for food to be safe from covid-19, of course. While the science is still developing, what we know right now is that the risk of transmitting the virus through food delivery packaging is fairly low. To be safe, follow the recommendations from this excellent science-based reference guide prepared by Serious Eats. “Wash your hands after bringing it home, transfer to clean containers and/or sanitize packaging when possible, and wash your hands before, during, and after cooking,” J. Kenji López-Alt writes.

Traditionally, explains Aniela, front of house staff, including servers, are the checking over that customer experience—making sure diners are happy, observing their body language, looking over the dishes on the plate as they arrive. And the menu changes daily too. It wouldn’t be possible to replace all of those human elements with an AI camera, and most restaurants wouldn’t want to.

On the other hand, what Dragontail is offering right now isn’t a replacement for human workers, but a way to show customers the highly-repeated and necessary safeguards taking place in the kitchen. It’s hard to know how much that helps consumers feel confident but every bit can help right now, points out Levanon.

There are so many personal touches that can’t be taken right now, laments Aniela, but she’s helping the restaurant figure out how to adapt. “When we all get through this, it’s going to be really interesting to see how the world changes,” she says, and what it all means for the service industry. When restaurants begin to reopen, what will that look like? How many of those personal touches—literal touches—will still be viable? And what role will technology play? For industry veterans like Aniela right now, there are no clear answers.