GOPIZZA uses AI to standardise kitchen quality

Go Vision tracks temperature appearance and burn marks as the chain weighs AI costs and future automation.

GOPIZZA is using artificial intelligence to standardise kitchen quality across its international store network, but its global chief said restaurant operators still need clear problems to solve before investing in AI.

Jay Lim, Global CEO of GOPIZZA, said AI use in real kitchens remains limited. For GOPIZZA, the main application is Go Vision, its in-house system for monitoring products before they leave the store.

“We monitor all the products that ship out of the store in terms of temperature, aesthetics, and burn marks, which are the biggest sources of complaints from customers,” Lim said.

The system films every product shipped from GOPIZZA stores and compares it with the company’s recipe and product standards. Lim said this makes AI most useful for quality control rather than immediate labour reduction or sales generation.

Cost remains a barrier. Lim said Go Vision requires AI models that cost about US$50 to US$200 per store each month, which can be significant in food and beverage, where margins are slim.

To reduce costs, GOPIZZA is moving towards edge computing, where servers and AI calculations are handled inside stores. Lim said the company’s target is to keep Go Vision below US$50 per store whilst tracking every product shipped worldwide.

AI is also being used in back-end operations, including menu development, ingredient cost optimisation and unit economics tracking. Store-level dashboards suggest local marketing and promotion strategies for managers to execute.

Lim said the bigger shift may come when humanoids or physical AI enter kitchens within the next five to 10 years. Go Vision is partly preparing GOPIZZA for that future by collecting operational data now.

He said operators should avoid signing AI contracts without knowing the exact problem they want to solve.

Lim said AI should be treated as a tool that depends on clear problem identification and good operational data.

GOPIZZA avoids external AI contracts and builds its own tools, Lim added, because staff with domain knowledge understand operational problems best.