In the Fall of 2021, I joined Mezli, a team of five working to build the world's first fully autonomous restaurant.

Traditional restaurants are weighed down by the overhead of operating a kitchen and dining space, not to mention the army of human staff required to keep the wheels turning. Mezli's approach was to prepare ingredients in a centralized facility and then assemble Mediterranean bowls at the point of sale in shipping containers outfitted with robotics. By reducing overhead, we could translate those savings directly to our customers, making quality cuisine more accessible.

During my 7-month internship, I wore many different hats. I started off as a UX Design Intern, crafting user interface prototypes and providing constructive feedback to graphic and web design agencies to refine the existing designs. 

I was promoted to a Product Manager within just a month, where I was put in charge of helping to shape the user-facing hardware and software features. I conducted in-depth market research, identifying the high-value capabilities driving the selection of features for the Minimum Viable Product. I focused specifically on increasing trust, an important part of any new technology, but especially one that would handle people’s food. I advocated for concepts that would increase transparency and confidence, ensuring that even though customers couldn’t physically see into the box, they would feel secure in the knowledge that their meal was being prepared with great ingredients and care.

As our anticipated launch date approached, I made the decision to take a quarter off from my studies and join the team on-site as a Mechanical Engineering Intern. There, I contributed directly to building the physical restaurant, assembling robotics hardware and fixtures as we geared up for launch.

Mezli launched at Spark Social in San Francisco in Fall 2022, serving tasty lunches to hundreds of customers starting at just $7.

Learn More

Mezli: Autonomous restaurants that make great, affordable meals. – Y Combinator

Mezli: Stanford engineers built fully autonomous restaurant in SF – CNBC

This San Francisco Restaurant Is Run Entirely By Robots – Eater SF

Stanford engineers team up with Michelin-star chef to build modular restaurants – TechCrunch

How Mezli Launched a Robot Restaurant in 70 Days – ThomasNet

Welcome to the world’s first fully robotic restaurant – FreeThink

Entirely robot-run, Mezli launches its first ‘fully autonomous’ restaurant in California – Fox Business

Robot-run SF restaurant Mezli opens near Chase Center – SF Gate

The Mezli Recipe for an Automated Restaurant – Onshape