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On the 20th, F&B automation and robotics solution startup PreKitchen Lab announced that it has secured seed investment from LG Electronics and accelerator Bluepoint Partners. The investment amount and corporate valuation remain undisclosed.
PreKitchen Lab is a startup spun off through 'Studio341 (STUDIO341)', an in-house venture incubation program jointly operated by LG Electronics and Bluepoint, which develops and provides robotics adoption and kitchen operation optimization solutions for F&B stores.
Founder and CEO Yoo Jin-ho of PreKitchen Lab has seven years of experience directly operating food service outlets in Wuhan, China, along with a background at LG Electronics handling automation equipment and solution businesses. The team was formed by joining forces with professionals specializing in food service operations and franchise expansion, automated equipment control, and software development.
PreKitchen Lab identified key challenges in the food service industry: increasing reliance on human labor and rising labor costs, coupled with insufficient data on the performance of kitchen automation equipment, leading to low market trust. Specifically, the company noted that communication standards vary across individual manufacturing equipment such as automatic stir-fry machines, washers, and noodle cookers, causing operational data—including orders, sales figures, and equipment status—to remain fragmented and making it difficult to enhance overall store productivity.
To address these issues, PreKitchen Lab is equipping kitchen appliances with compact AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things) modules to build an integrated control system that allows monitoring the status of heterogeneous kitchen devices on a single tablet screen and enables remote control. The system consolidates not only equipment operation status but also order intake, sales metrics, and task progress into one platform, reducing repetitive manual tasks. Initially, the company plans to prioritize status checks and data collection before gradually expanding control functions in alignment with manufacturer support capabilities.
Currently, PreKitchen Lab is advancing solution adoption and proof-of-concept (PoC) testing with franchise headquarters and food service outlets, aiming to verify on-site improvements such as enhanced device connectivity stability and reduced cooking and operational times.
Park Jeong-soo, Senior Reviewer at Bluepoint, stated, "While automation demand is high for labor-intensive processes like cooking and cleaning, integrated solutions suitable for small-scale food service stores have been rare. PreKitchen Lab comprises a team that understands both technology and the realities of the food service industry, possessing the capability to lead standardization in kitchen automation systems."
Yoo Jin-ho, CEO of PreKitchen Lab, remarked, "The core of food service automation lies in the stable integration of diverse equipment standards and on-site operational data. We will further advance our technology to enable self-employed business owners to transition into managers who run their stores based on robotics and data."
Meanwhile, 'Studio341', which incubated PreKitchen Lab, was launched in 2023 to inherit the entrepreneurial spirit of Samsung's predecessor company (now LG Electronics) and discover in-house ventures. The program is jointly operated by LG Electronics and Bluepoint, covering selection, acceleration, and spin-off processes.
[MoneyToday startup media platform Unicorn Factory]
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