Tahina targets new ways of living as it preps London-based retail technology driven autonomous store
Grab and go food retailer Tahina is gearing up to launch its first autonomous store in the City of London.
“Our dishes have been developed by an executive chef with a wealth of experience acquired through fine dining European establishments to the top premium casual British groups. Unlike a lot of ‘fast’ food, Tahina uses quality ingredients to create grab and go food that’s truly delicious,” say Emilio and Javier, the founders of Tahina.
The pair are the team behind West End restaurant Lazeez Lebanese Tapas, which has been a fixture of Mayfair’s Duke Street for 16 years.
Between them they have decades of experience in the food industry, working for brands including Aubaine, EAT, Mitchells and Butlers and YO! Sushi.
The store will be fully autonomous via a range of technology, including AI, intelligent weight shelves, motion detector sensors and cloud computing. Shekel is one of the companies involved in the project.
“The world is changing rapidly and we’ve crafted Tahina around these new ways of living,” says Emilio. “Our store is tech driven, using the latest developments in autonomous retail and AI to provide a seamless and simple experience for our customers.”
Those involved say that, due to the plug and play nature of the store, the concept can easily be rolled out across multiple sites.
“We’re really excited about the possibilities,” says Emilio.
“We believe there could be two types of Tahina store: flagship stores such as the one we’re launching in 2024, plus contract stores designed to be integrated with minimal services into access-controlled environments, such as offices, shared workspaces, hospitals, university campuses and airports.”
He adds: “We want to offer maximum benefit for customers, but we also want minimum impact on the planet, so we’ve built sustainability into every element of Tahina.”
“All our dishes are plant-based, cruelty free and seasonal, and we support local suppliers where possible. Our store will have a closed loop recycling system for packaging, and we’ll work with charities to distribute surplus food or turn it into green electricity.”
The first autonomous store will open in the summer of 2024, and further locations are set to follow.
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