AsiaNet  87523

PARIS, Jan. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

When it comes to food choices, what is on the top of consumers' mind? Taste,

look, or service experience? Maybe for today's consumers, the answer is "All of

them".

People are increasingly health-conscious, and choices of food are many out

there. However, traditional catering services are not personalized enough, let

alone providing health tips for each customer. Cafeterias for enterprises,

schools, and other large facilities face multiple challenges, such as slow

settlement and long queues. These problems also affect customer experience. It

has now become an industry trend to introduce intelligent methods to improve

dining experience and efficiency.

To address these challenges, Sodexo, one of the world's largest catering

service providers, works with Huawei France to launch the Seefood intelligent

settlement solution. The solution builds on the Huawei Atlas AI software and

hardware platform, and combines AI image recognition into the settlement phase

to automatically recognize dishes, calculate prices, and complete settlement

via cards and mobile terminals.

This solution uses deep metric learning to accurately recognize each dish in

0.3 seconds. It learns rapidly and can instantly recognize the distinguishing

features of a dish after the canteen operator inputs a new dish image. The

system provides an algorithm for updating the features of incorrectly

identified samples to improve the recognition rate. In addition, after each

recognition, the terminal system automatically adds object detection and

classification labels and sends them to the training platform on the cloud. In

this way, the number of training samples and the precision of the algorithm

models are improved on the go. The more it is used, the smarter the system

becomes.

The Seefood solution sets itself apart by providing real-time nutrition and

calorie information. Empowered by these innovations, the solution not only

eliminates the need for manual cashier intervention to drastically cut queuing

time, but delivers healthier, tech-driven, and more personalized services for

diners.

"I come here every day for my work lunch. It's now fully self-service, from

dish choosing to settlement. No more queues! It's 'food with fun'," said an

engineer at the canteen of a Guangzhou-based company using the Seefood

solution. Another interviewee, a market specialist, said, "The canteen now can

even calculate the calories of food and provide very intuitive nutrition

reference. That's a game changer and exactly the ideal dining solution for

health-conscious people like me."

For cafeteria operators, the Seefood solution implements fully automated

settlement, and provides order and turnover statistics to visualize operation

data, helping them improve service capability and boost operational efficiency.

A cafeteria that serves 2000 people can accelerate its settlement speed from 20

seconds per person to just 3 seconds, increase the number of people served per

hour from 180 to 1200, and implement 24/7, real-time operation data management

and analysis.

Currently, the Seefood solution has been applied by Sodexo in its cafeteria for

Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters, as well as other large enterprises, hospitals,

and universities in cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai in

China. The solution has already demonstrated its marvelous business value and

is well received by canteen operators and consumers.

Looking ahead, Sodexo is planning to promote this solution globally. The

solution will be deployed in Sodexo's cafeterias in West Europe in the first

half of 2021. Martin Boden, President of Sodexo China, said, "Innovation is in

Sodexo's DNA, and China is one of the countries leading the world's

technological and digital transformation. We are delighted to work with Huawei

to develop innovative service models for catering. Through this joint

innovation project, we can better serve our customers, and enrich customer

experience in terms of efficiency, convenience, and health. We are committed to

providing better Quality of Life services for consumers in China and around the

world."

Huawei has been honing an AI software and hardware platform that delivers

unrivaled ease of use and performance. Huawei works with industry customers and

application partners to deliver AI innovation for industries. Huawei will

deepen its collaboration with Sodexo to explore more scenarios in the catering

industry, make catering services more convenient, and provide a better dining

experience for consumers.

Sodexo is one of the world's largest catering service providers and a Fortune

Global 500 company. Headquartered in Paris, France, Sodexo provides catering

services for enterprises, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and factories

worldwide. With professional teams of chefs, dieticians, and kitchen staff,

Sodexo has long been passionate about providing quality food that tastes

amazing and delights its customers.

For more information, please visit here

https://e.huawei.com/en/products/servers/ascend

Email: enterpriseweb@huawei.com

SOURCE: Huawei

Image Attachments Links:

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   Caption: Sodexo, one of the world's largest catering service providers, works with

Huawei to launch the Seefood intelligent settlement solution. The solution

builds on the Huawei Atlas AI software and hardware platform, and combines AI

image recognition into the settlement phase to automatically recognize dishes,

calculate prices, and complete settlement via cards and mobile terminals.