DoorDash Inc. has acquired Chowbotics Inc., the creator of a restaurant robot that can automatically prepare salad bowls and give customers detailed nutritional information about every order.

The terms of the deal, which was announced today, aren’t being disclosed. Hayward, California-based Chowbotics previously raised more than $20 million from investors across multiple funding rounds.

Chowbotics’ robot resembles a refrigerator and comes with wheels that allow it to be easily moved around when needed. Inside, the system has room for up to 22 different ingredients that it can use to put together 65 kinds of salads, grain bowls, breakfast bowls and snacks. A touchscreen on the front allows users to customize their orders and view the nutritional value of ingredients.

Besides restaurants, Chowbotics also provides its robots to hospitals and higher education institutions. The startup has sold more than 100 systems to date.

DoorDash is positioning the acquisition as a way to expand the portfolio of value-added features it offers to restaurants using its food delivery service. DoorDash already provides analytics tools that enable restaurant operators to track their business performance and marketing products they can use to acquire new customers. With Chowbotics, the company is now adding hardware into the mix as well.

One use case DoorDash sees for Chowbotics’ technology is making it easier for restaurant operators to expand into new locations. “As part of the DoorDash platform, this tool can help merchants expand their current menu offerings as well as reach new customers in new markets without investing in an entirely new store,” DoorDash executive Penn Daniel explained in a blog post today. A single Chowbotics robot reportedly costs $35,000, which could in some cases make it price-competitive with the cost of setting up a restaurant location.

Chowbotics’ technology “allows us to enhance our broad array of merchant services — which include customer acquisition, on-demand delivery, insights and analytics, and white-label order fulfillment — and in a more cost-effective way,” Daniel added.

Given the focus on helping restaurants expand to new markets more cost-effectively, DoorDash’s next move after the acquisition might be to invest engineering resources in lowering the cost of the startup’s robot. That effort would benefit from any economies of scale DoorDash realizes over time as it ships more systems. The company has a large audience of potential buyers: Its delivery service is used by about 390,000 merchants in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Image: DoorDash