incredible

How Rozum Café Transformed the MENA Coffee Scene. The robot barista made it into the Middle East. This was a journey like no other — a journey we're going to break down into this article.

journey

to MIDDLE EAST

The Beginning:
an Idea that Changed Everything

The name of the franchise we're talking about is Cubo Coffee House. This is a business initiative by EMC, a company in Saudi Arabia that provides local and international clients with services in sports marketing consultancy. They reached out to Rozum Robotics with a bold plan: to launch multiple automated coffee spots across Riyadh. Rozum rose to the challenge.

“ It was more than just supplying Cubo with several robots. The client wanted something new for the coffee house appearance and product features. Our team had to introduce innovative solutions to match this vision."

Eugene Kovalenko
Rozum's ССO

For latest features, Rozum's crew made the following changes to the regular robotic barista:

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Brand new aesthetic. Colored the panels of the coffee point into bright violet, with the client's logo being the center of everyone's attention. The same approach was applied to cups: their design matches the one of the coffee point.


Improved recipes. The team adjusted the coffee recipes to suit the taste of the Saudi Arabia residents.


Cold drinks. To provide the Saudi with refreshing beverages, Rozum put new items into the regular coffee card: Iced Latte, Iced Cappuccino, and Iced Americano.

As soon as both Rozum and EMC moved forward with these decisions,
a development cycle brought these changes into life.

It is important to emphasize that one of the important requests of the client was - a high standard of coffee quality and taste.

The particularity of Rozum coffee machine robot is that the manipulator mimics the movements of a human barista to deliver a cup of coffee. Unlike vending options, the coffee-making process in this case is more than pushing a button on a machine."You may have heard the opinion that automation reduces art to a simple act, but this is not the case with Rozum Café", udnerlines Eugene. "When it comes to coffee brewing, there is no difference between a human and our robot. It repeats all the steps of a coffee house employee and makes beverages from the best blends in the specialty coffee segment. If you want a better understanding what Specialty Coffee is, read more here.

“By preserving the process in all its glory, we keep the quality of our coffee at the highest level. You get your latte at a quick pace, with no infection risks, and of the very taste you've come to love. Since the robot never makes mistakes, the quality of the beverage you get is always consistent. You can compare such a drink to a fragrance: you'll always recognize it."

Darya Goncharik
Rozum's Head of Marketing

The Breakthrough: First Launches in Saudi Arabia

Choosing the right spot for automated baristas was the next milestone for Cubo Coffee House — and the final decision surprised everyone.

''For business, airports and big shopping malls look like better locations for this invention. While we admit these places are great to start a profitable coffee house, medical facilities should not be discarded'', adds Darya. ''So, in our case, the first robotic barista in Saudi Arabia appeared in a hospital. The King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center became home for our automated coffee maker, and we were grateful that its management was open to this idea. The pandemic, of course, played a role in this installment. Perhaps it was an unconventional option for this type of business activity and yet the most fitting one.''

With COVID-19 still raging on, the robotic baristas are a valuable hospital asset. They provide patients, doctors, and visitors with much-needed safety: since there are no human baristas involved, the risk of infection is lower. The contactless payment system adds even more security against coronavirus, making the solution a great spot to enjoy coffee without much worries.

The launch was such a success that two more coffee points were opened at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center. One of them got a pretty special place at King Abdullah Center for Oncology and Liver Disease, the largest specialized center of its kind in the region.

Despite the challenges, Rozum's team successfully launched all the coffee points. This is a list of all robotic baristas under the Cubo Coffee House brand in Riyadh. Currently, you can enjoy coffee at these addresses:

Locations

“ We had no idea she was in town. So seeing her coming in here and watching our robot in action was the biggest surprise ever. Now we can proudly say that the Dubai launch was a great success."

Darya Goncharik
Rozum's Head of Marketing