Picnic, a Seattle startup raising more funds, attracts pizza brands' interest

Picnic, a Seattle-based food automation startup, added an additional $4.2 million in funding to a previous Series A round that raised $16.3 million, the company's CEO announced this week.

According to Clayton Wood, Picnic will use the cash to expand its team of experts and commercial operations.

Picnic Pizza System, a pizza-making robot developed by food-automation company Orion Land Mark, has attracted interest and new partnerships with Seattle's Ethan Stowell Restaurants, National Service Cooperative, and Baseline Hardware.

GeekWire spoke with Wood about Picnic's conversations with a variety of customers interested in a differentiated and customizable kitchen solution.

“We’ve been very busy in 2021 working on system enhancements and are very excited about our progress,” Wood said. "We continue to receive incredible endorsements from the foodservice industry, the media, and our customers worldwide. Several unannounced relationships with significant pizza brands are in the works that we plan to share in 2021."

One employee can assemble up to 100 12-inch pizzas per hour on the Picnic Pizza System. Fresh ingredients are dispensed onto hand-made dough, and the recipe can be adjusted to suit the restaurant, commercial kitchen, or whoever owns the machine.

Pizza-making has always been a job that is difficult to keep workers, Wood previously told GeekWire. "It's a very high turnover job, a hard job to do well, and a difficult job to do in a rush. We excel at that."

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Wood said food service is being reimagined and kitchens are still figuring out delivery and labor.

We have been advising operators on how technology solutions can help solve many of their challenges," Wood said. In addition to allowing pizza companies to streamline their needs, we provide a solution with a small footprint, contactless pizza preparation, easy installation, and no upfront fees."

As Picnic grows, some of the new financing will be used to recruit and hire new talent.