XRobotics

Join me and my co-hosts David Meltzer and Rhett Power and our guests: Igor Buchatskiy, VP of Business Development at xRobotics (xrobotics.io) Igor is an accomplished executive leader with a proven record of driving growth and innovation across FMCG, agribusiness, and food production industries. With extensive experience as a CEO, VP, founder, and former strategic consultant at McKinsey and Bain, he has led organizations to achieve significant top- and bottom-line success. Known for his strategic vision and hands-on leadership, Buchatskiy continues to share valuable insights from his journey in building and scaling high-performing, purpose-driven companies. In this conversation we discuss XRobotics' pizza topping robot for high volume pizzerias. Carolyn Dewar, Partner at McKinsey & Company (https://lnkd.in/g7K3-H-s) Carolyn is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco office and co-leads the firm’s CEO Excellence practice, where she advises Fortune 100 CEOs on how to lead effectively through pivotal transitions and challenges. In this conversation we discuss her new book, A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership. Whether you’re an aspiring leader or a new-to-the-job CEO—or even a board member wanting to better steward your company’s performance—this is the compact, hands-on guide you’ve needed. Its compendium of pressure-tested tips is a must-have game changer for leaders at all levels. Jeffrey "JJ" Madison, Author/CEO at Victor Kilo Fund | 501(c)(3) (victorkilofund.org) Jeffrey is a Harvard-educated airline pilot, flight instructor, mentor, and author with nearly three decades of aviation experience. As the author of YIKES! 100 Smart Pilots and the Dumb Things They Did Yet Lived to Tell About ’Em, JJ shares real-life lessons drawn from his extensive analysis of NASA safety reports—the only expert in his field to do so specifically for the pilot community. All proceeds from his book support aerospace scholarships through the Victor Kilo Fund, a nonprofit he co-founded with his wife to empower Civil Air Patrol squadrons, under-resourced flight schools, and STEM programs nationwide. They’ve earned enough from proceeds from sales of JJ’s book, that he gave out their first $5,000 flight training scholarship, June 2025. They’re on track to give out their first $10,000 flight training scholarship by the end of 2025. #soulofbusiness #officehours #leadership #pizza #robotics #leadershipdevelopment #flying

Things I’d Do Differently My partner and I opened our first pizza shop when I was 23. Ever since then, my work life has been all about pizza - across different continents, roles, ups, and downs. Looking back, the most challenging experience I’ve had was starting and expanding our pizza chain in the US. As my boss at the time said, “If we succeed in the US, we’ll succeed anywhere” (I'm not sure I agree with that now, but it’s a cute quote anyway). Fast forward 12 years. So, this morning I had a thought: how would I go about opening a pizza shop today, knowing everything I know now? I'm not sure I can pack all of my thoughts into one post, but let’s start with the basics. 🍕 Area. If I were to choose a location, I’d pick a smaller town or a neighborhood with a very tight-knit community. College towns are my personal favorite because it’s so much easier to get the word out. 🍕 Pizza Preferences. The US is very diverse when it comes to pizza preferences. Learn all about the different types of crusts, cheese blends, sauces, and toppings that are popular in your area. St. Louis style, Chicago deep dish, or NY style - which one is yours? Food preferences don't change quickly. 🍕 Location. Even if everyone drives, location is still key. I wouldn’t bet on a ghost kitchen because their math often doesn't math, and getting customers online these days is very costly. Let them see you even if it means going for a smaller space. 🍕 Construction. Build-out costs are extremely high, especially when it comes to electricity, gas, water, and ventilation. I’ve had the best luck taking over a former restaurant space. Yes, you’d have to redo the interior, but it’s still cheaper. Maybe just look into why the previous place closed:) 🍕 Equipment. You absolutely don’t need to buy all of your equipment new. I wish I had known that sooner. There are so many good pizza ovens, blenders, dough mixers, etc., that you can find used in your area! They often cost a fraction of the original price and have tons of life left in them. Plus, it’s better for the environment. 🍕 Kitchen Plan. Really work hard on your kitchen plan. Have you watched The Bear? Yeah, kind of like that. Every second counts, so keep eliminating those extra steps and movements until you have nothing left to cut. I prefer a smaller kitchen where you can observe everything from one spot. 🍕 Marketing. Start marketing way before you actually open your doors. I started our Facebook page a year before we opened the store in Oxford, MS. It had 3,000 followers by the time we opened. These are the first customers you'll really need, especially if money is tight. You can talk about the process, the obstacles you’re overcoming, your ideas for the menu. People like stories, not pushed ads, so keep it real. Still reading? Oh, I think we’d need a part 2. If you need any ideas for your new pizza shop or transforming your current one, don’t hesitate to reach out! #xrobotics #pizzaautomation #pizzarobotics #xpizzacube

Things I’d Do Differently My partner and I opened our first pizza shop when I was 23. Ever since then, my work life has been all about pizza - across different continents, roles, ups, and downs. Looking back, the most challenging experience I’ve had was starting and expanding our pizza chain in the US. As my boss at the time said, “If we succeed in the US, we’ll succeed anywhere” (I'm not sure I agree with that now, but it’s a cute quote anyway). Fast forward 12 years. So, this morning I had a thought: how would I go about opening a pizza shop today, knowing everything I know now? I'm not sure I can pack all of my thoughts into one post, but let’s start with the basics. 🍕 Area. If I were to choose a location, I’d pick a smaller town or a neighborhood with a very tight-knit community. College towns are my personal favorite because it’s so much easier to get the word out. 🍕 Pizza Preferences. The US is very diverse when it comes to pizza preferences. Learn all about the different types of crusts, cheese blends, sauces, and toppings that are popular in your area. St. Louis style, Chicago deep dish, or NY style - which one is yours? Food preferences don't change quickly. 🍕 Location. Even if everyone drives, location is still key. I wouldn’t bet on a ghost kitchen because their math often doesn't math, and getting customers online these days is very costly. Let them see you even if it means going for a smaller space. 🍕 Construction. Build-out costs are extremely high, especially when it comes to electricity, gas, water, and ventilation. I’ve had the best luck taking over a former restaurant space. Yes, you’d have to redo the interior, but it’s still cheaper. Maybe just look into why the previous place closed:) 🍕 Equipment. You absolutely don’t need to buy all of your equipment new. I wish I had known that sooner. There are so many good pizza ovens, blenders, dough mixers, etc., that you can find used in your area! They often cost a fraction of the original price and have tons of life left in them. Plus, it’s better for the environment. 🍕 Kitchen Plan. Really work hard on your kitchen plan. Have you watched The Bear? Yeah, kind of like that. Every second counts, so keep eliminating those extra steps and movements until you have nothing left to cut. I prefer a smaller kitchen where you can observe everything from one spot. 🍕 Marketing. Start marketing way before you actually open your doors. I started our Facebook page a year before we opened the store in Oxford, MS. It had 3,000 followers by the time we opened. These are the first customers you'll really need, especially if money is tight. You can talk about the process, the obstacles you’re overcoming, your ideas for the menu. People like stories, not pushed ads, so keep it real. Still reading? Oh, I think we’d need a part 2. If you need any ideas for your new pizza shop or transforming your current one, don’t hesitate to reach out! #xrobotics #pizzaautomation #pizzarobotics #xpizzacube

Kitchen job is no office job Imagine your typical office (not a fan myself, but for the sake of the story). People are sitting in front of their computers, constantly booked conference rooms and the hardest working employee of the month - the coffee machine. Now imagine it all goes smoothly between 9am and 11am. Then at about 11:30am your boss comes screaming: “We are about to get destroyed, we need more people!!” And then 3-4 folks appear at the door and all of you are now speaking on the phone and typing on your keyboard twice as fast. At around 3pm those 3-4 folks go home, you exhale and get some coffee. And then the same thing happens at around 5pm but on a much larger scale: with your stationary flying up in the air, your printer constantly busy and your phone ringing into oblivion. A full-blown panic mode till about 9pm, and then those same nice folks go home (or you go home) and your office floor is a battlefield in need of a deep clean. Now switch the word “office” and all of the office-related metaphors for a “pizza kitchen” and that’s your typical restaurant life. It’s not so busy until all hell breaks loose and then it’s smooth sailing again. You are expected to make 60% of your daily sales in a span of 3-4 hours. All of your orders come in waves, the biggest ones being lunch and dinner. So, you can easily go from needing 1-2 people in the kitchen to needing 5-6 people but for a very short period of time. How would you normally deal with such an uneven demand? Well, you overschedule. You let those people you need for just a few hours stay and work a lot longer. Nobody is willing to travel to work and get paid for just a few hours a day, especially in big cities where distances would kill you. You overschedule and you lose quite a bit of money that way. The biggest benefit of kitchen automation is that it gives your team that extra boost of productivity when needed most. Your morning crew + the Cube will be just as productive as a significantly larger crew. Just 2-3 people and the Cube are handling insane dinner rushes in your clients' kitchens, making up to 200 pizzas per hour with double-deck conveyor ovens. There is no other possible scenario where such a small crew can get to those numbers without the help of technology. Pretty cool, huh? #xrobotics #xpizzacube #robotsandpizza #robotsarecoming #automation #pizzaautomation