Autonomous kitchen company Appetronix has appointed Heather Wilkie as Chief Financial Officer, adding a finance executive with direct experience scaling commercial foodservice operations across hundreds of kitchens. The hire comes as the Columbus, Ohio-based company prepares for a Series A fundraising round and accelerates unit deployment across North America and internationally.
The Wilkie Appointment
Wilkie spent seven years at Compass Group Canada, where she rose through six promotions from Vice President of Finance into executive leadership overseeing business transformation. In that role she led a team that managed more than 100 project implementations across 600-plus kitchens — experience directly relevant to Appetronix's ambition of placing autonomous, zero-employee restaurant units at scale. Before Compass, she was the finance lead of Deloitte's Canadian Consulting practice and served on its Canadian Consulting Executive Committee. Wilkie's familiarity with Appetronix predates her hire; she developed a partnership with the company while running the innovation team at Compass.
"The leadership team is strong, the strategy around next-generation QSR is clear, and there is real start-up energy behind it," Wilkie said. "Combining that momentum with a commercialized product already operating in the field made this an opportunity I was excited to take on."
BOH Automation at Commercial Scale
Appetronix describes its product as a fully autonomous "restaurant-in-a-box" — a food-grade robotic system that handles portioning, cooking, plating, and cleaning with no on-site employees. The company's first commercial deployment launched in June 2025 as a Donatos Pizza unit at Columbus International Airport in partnership with HMSHost, the world's largest airport concessionaire. Appetronix now operates across multiple cuisine platforms and holds a range of patents on its robotic systems.
For equipment specifiers and foodservice consultants tracking kitchen automation and back-of-house robotics, the Appetronix model represents one of the furthest-along commercial examples of full BOH automation — encompassing functions that traditionally require separate pieces of capital equipment and dedicated labor. As operators across quick-service and travel-concessions segments face persistent labor pressure, turnkey autonomous units are drawing growing attention as an alternative to conventional kitchen builds.
Nipun Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of Appetronix, pointed to Wilkie's dual track record in financial leadership and operational execution as the key qualification. "She has scaled complex foodservice operations across hundreds of kitchens, and was among the first to identify the potential of our technology while running the innovation team at Compass," Sharma said. "Heather's experience allows us to prepare for our Series A in the coming months."
What's Next
With Wilkie focused on financial infrastructure and a Series A on the horizon, Appetronix is positioning for a broader commercial rollout. For dealers and consultants watching the foodservice automation and energy-and-sustainability space, the company's patent portfolio and multi-cuisine platform capability signal it is moving beyond a single-brand proof of concept toward a scalable deployment model. Airport concessions, corporate dining, and high-traffic QSR environments are likely target verticals given the company's existing HMSHost relationship and Compass Group pedigree.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
