Mezli Launches World's First Fully-Autonomous Restaurant in San Francisco

Mezli, a startup based in San Mateo, CA, has announced the launch of its fully-autonomous robotic restaurant, the first of its kind in the world. The restaurant, located in the Spark Social food park in San Francisco, will be celebrating its grand opening on Sunday, August 28, 2022.

Mezli's restaurant will be the first-ever to serve a full hot menu to customers without requiring any human intervention This automated approach allows Mezli to offer its menu of Mediterranean grain bowls, sides, and drinks at a significantly lower price point than similar fastcasual restaurants – its grain bowls start at $6 99 – providing a healthy, convenient and affordable dining option for neighborhood residents and workers.

Mezli was founded by a team of Stanford engineers: Alex Kolchinski, Alex Gruebele, and Max Perham. As graduate students at Stanford, Mezli's founders found that they had no nearby food options that were convenient, affordable, and healthy. Putting their technical backgrounds to use, they teamed up with Michelin-star chef Eric Minnich to solve the problem with a combination of robotic and culinary innovation

Mezli's approach of unlocking fresh, healthy food at affordable prices by reimagining the nature of food service from the ground up has already attracted attention. "It resonates with me," Mezli's investor Pieter Abbeel said. "Anything physical is always harder than you think, so if you don't come up with a first principles way to solve it, it will be difficult. In addition, from day one, the food was being served and that is compelling."

Looking ahead, after the launch at Spark Social, the Mezli team plans to expand to multiple locations while also widening the culinary options available through the Mezli platform. Because robotic Mezli restaurants are smaller and cheaper to build than traditional fast-casual restaurants, they can be deployed in a wider range of locations, at a smaller carbon footprint per location, while serving fresh, healthy meals at a low price point. It's exactly that offering that Mezli's team plans to eventually make available nationwide.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Promotes Trade Agenda during Florida Visit

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Foreign Trade HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi recently concluded a successful two-day visit to Florida, which focused on expanding the bilateral UAE-US trade and commercial relationship His trip to the "Sunshine State" builds on recent economic development missions to the UAE by local South Florida officials.

Minister Al Zeyoudi met with Broward County Mayor Michael Udine, Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam, and Chairman of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners Jose "Pepe" Diaz. The leaders discussed ways to enhance collaboration between the UAE and Florida, with a focus on investment, tourism, city planning, and healthcare These meetings follow a delegation in March by Florida mayors to Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai where they engaged with the UAE business community and attended closing events for Expo 2020 Dubai including visiting the US Pavilion

"Florida is the commercial gateway to the Americas and the UAE sits at the crossroads of global trade and commerce It makes perfect sense that the Emirates is developing close ties with this economically vibrant region," said UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade HE Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi. "The UAE was pleased to host multiple delegations of Florida mayors recently and we remain committed to expanding economic partnership opportunities here."

In Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Minister Zeyoudi attended high level business development and networking events and meetings hosted by the U S -U A E Business Council, The International Trade Consortium (ITC), Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership promoting economic development in Florida, and eMerge Americas, an organizing focused on establishing Miami as the tech hub of the Americas

In 2021, Florida exported over $1 billion of goods to the U.A.E., making it one of the top 10 states exporting to the Emirates. These exports supported an estimated 6,000 U.S. jobs. The U.A.E. also exported over $180 million of goods to Florida that same year.

During Miami Mayor Frances Suarez's visit to the UAE in March, he signed a sister city agreement alongside HE Abdulla Al Basti, Secretary-General of The Executive Council of Dubai, deepening ties between the cities of Dubai and Miami. Crown Prince of Dubai H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attended that signing ceremony.

In July 2021, Emirates Airline began its first-ever passenger service between Dubai and Miami, opening new business and leisure opportunities between the U A E and South Florida Emirates has also been flying to Orlando since 2015, and it previously serviced South Florida through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from 2016 through 2020