You may have seen the new building next to McDonald's on University Boulevard. The blue and white building is the new Café Zupas in Rexburg, and it's having its grand opening today.
Peter Ramos is the general manager. He said Café Zupas coming to Rexburg was a long time coming. The café styled restaurant focuses on fresh ingredients for its menu items.
“Café Zupas has really fresh food. We actually get a daily produce order,” Ramos said.
To some, the café may seem like any other business, but the fully automated system is what allows it to keep fresh ingredients in its inventory.
The big secret? They use A.I.
“We have tablets that we count all of our inventory and every day we have a projected revenue of how much food we think we’re going to sell for the following day,” Ramos said.
Ramos said that based on the numbers, the A.I. system orders the produce they need. That way, they don’t run out of food at the end of the day. In other words, the food at the café doesn’t spoil.
Customers come by in a few different ways. The café serves in-person, online and drive through customers. Its drive through, also known as its ‘Good Lifeline,’ is different than any other ordinary store. It uses kiosks to order, then proceeds to designate parking spots to pick up the food.
“You’ll be able to place your order at the drive through kiosk there and then pull around to our window to pay for that food and we park you in one of our three spots, and then we have somebody run the food out to you,” Ramos said.
Ramos said it gets loud in the restaurants, so having a headset to take orders is challenging. The ‘Good Lifeline' is relatively new to the company. He says all guests are treated the same regardless of how they ordered.
“We treat our online guests the exact same way because they ordered the exact same time as our other guests,” Ramos said.
Ramos said they offer catering for large groups and big families.
“Anytime, even if you want it same day, it's not like you have to give a two-to-three-day notice.”
The café does box lunches, large salads and soda bar catering.
When asked about running any student discounts, Ramos said to pay attention to its marketing team and follow them on social media for forthcoming information.
“I know September 14 and 15, the first two days of classes for the fall semester, we’re going to be doing a strawberry cup event, so definitely stay posted for that,” Ramos said.
Café Zupas is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with extended hours Friday and Saturday going until 10 p.m.