Hyphen automated makelines get investments from Cava, Chipotle

In a challenging time for the restaurant industry, major chains chipotle And Javanese He is putting money into the automated production lines of his startup Hyphen.

The San Jose, California-based company aims to help restaurants achieve two key goals in a hyper-competitive environment: fast production and good customer service. Co-founder and CEO Stephen Klein said in an interview with CNBC that the technology provides a less chaotic and more “elegant experience” for both employees and guests.

“We’re probably making a bowl every 10 to 15 seconds. During peak production times, especially during the lunch and dinner rush, we often have more capacity than they demand,” Klein said.

This efficiency caused increased interest in the sector. In August 2025, Hyphen closed a Series B financing round from Cava for up to $10 million. Chipotle said it is investing a total of $25 million in Hyphen through the third quarter of 2025 through its Cultivate Next venture fund.

The $25 million Series B round will help Hyphen scale its production and expand into restaurants across the US. Its production will increase through Re:Build Manufacturing, a company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Chipotle’s Hyphen makeline He’s in San Jose to make changes after a test at the restaurant. In the future, Cava will test and pilot its technology for a second makeline that will offer digital and takeaway orders in the back of its kitchen.

Hyphen’s technology solves both speed and labor issues, helping to automate a part of the service process that can be repetitive and difficult to fill.

“Someone sells ingredients at the top, and the rest of the stuff happens at the bottom,” he said of the makeline, which uses a series of robotic hands under a long table to prepare salads and bowls in full view of the public and send them down the line.

Makelines cost between $50,000 and $100,000 to purchase, and restaurant customers typically see a return on investment in less than a year, Klein said. They’re working 95% of the time, but in the rare moments they’re down, workers can hop on to fill orders, like an escalator turning into stairs, he said.

Another important feature is reducing food waste. The technology tracks ingredients “down to the gram,” Klein said.

“We portion out every ingredient perfectly, we can help them save on food costs or at least reduce their food costs in some way,” he said.

The idea for the company began when Klein and co-founder Daniel Fukuba built a fully robotic food truck that went into service in Los Angeles three months before the pandemic began. Shortly after that, they shifted gears to launch Hyphen.

“When the pandemic happened, we kind of had to share it in another direction. Luckily, we were talking to other restaurant partners about licensing our technology for them, and we decided … it made a lot more sense to help the restaurants that were already in existence,” Klein said.

Technology innovation will likely continue to be a key trend in the restaurant industry after a challenging year for many industry leaders. Shares of Cava and Chipotle are down nearly 50% and 40%, respectively, year-to-date, following the decline of key demographic groups, including younger consumers. Sweetgreen, another competitor in the healthy salad and bowl space, fell almost 80% on a yearly basis.

sweet green It sold its robotics unit Spyce to mealtime platform Wonder for $186.4 million earlier this year. Sweetgreen had acquired Spyce to create its automated software. Infinite Kitchens will continue to use technology.

Klein said Hyphen is talking to major brands and food service providers for college campuses and office parks as it aims to not only improve the makeline but also provide data from food preparation and distribution. The company aims to develop more software in the future, including tools for meal prep planning for use in the back of the house.

One of the areas that is not on the menu, at least for now, is the fast food industry.

“We’re really trying to help people who have really high mix or high customization in terms of what their guests order and high volume. So that’s like our strike zone,” he said.