I'm sure many of you have already noticed somewhere (my cousin in the USA did it live, someone else on social media) these machines as tall as a table that welcome you in restaurants, take you to your seat and bring you food. Some even have a cat face and purr when you scratch them. Waiter robots: the next delirium.
The question many in the restaurant industry are asking is whether these robot waiters really are the future. Many argue that they can solve the problem of understaffing in restaurants. Is this the real reason for their adoption? Maybe. Meanwhile, sales of these robots are steadily increasing, with thousands of them already in operation around the world.
Between obstacles and advantages: robot waiters under the lens
Dennis Reynolds, dean of the Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership at the University of Houston, thinks this is the direction the world is headed. His own school (a top hotel management school) has adopted a robot in its restaurant since December. According to Reynolds, you have lightened the human workload and made the service more efficient.
Not everyone thinks like Reynolds, though. Some believe that robot waiters are nothing more than a publicity stunt and that there is still a long way to go before they can replace humans. The main hitch? The physical one. Often these contraptions encounter difficulties in the presence of stairs, terraces and other architectural barriers. A kind of challenge that will always make them useless in some types of restaurants.
Meanwhile the advance proceeds
Despite the "physical" difficulties, however, robot waiters are spreading like wildfire. Bear robotics, based in Redwood City, California, introduced its Servi robot in 2021 and expects to have 10.000 of them in service by year's end in 44 U.S. states and abroad. From Pudu Robotics, based in Shenzhen, China, we wrote already in this article. Since 2016, the year of its foundation, the Chinese company has already distributed over 56.000 robots worldwide.
Every restaurant chain is aiming for automation as much as possible. People will start seeing them everywhere in the next few years.
Phil Zheng of Richtech Robotics, an Austin-based manufacturer of robot waiters
Li Zhai, owner of the restaurant Noodle Topia in Madison Heights, Michigan, purchased a Pudu Robotics BellaBot in 2021 to address staff shortages. The robot was so successful that it added two more robot waiters: now, one robot escorts customers to tables, while another carries steaming bowls of noodles. A third robot collects the dirty dishes and carries them to the kitchen. Also, customers often share videos of the bots on social media, attracting new visitors. "In addition to saving personnel, robots generate business," Zhai said.
Thanks to robot waiters, Zhai can handle the same volume of work with just three people compared to the five or six he previously employed. Robots, he says, save him money: A BellaBot costs about $15.000, while an employee costs $5.000-$6.000. Per month. Do I need to tell you about the employment impact? Zhai says robots allow human waiters more time to interact with customers, thus increasing tips. To those who stay, he means him.
An inevitable future?
As with other things triggered by Covid, the adoption of robot waiters has also been accelerated by the temporary global shortage of staff due to the pandemic years and social restrictions. In the US, the restaurant industry still employs 400.000 fewer than pre-pandemic levels. In a recent survey, 62% of restaurant operators said they do not have enough employees to meet customer demand. Can I "jump" the easy guess that many of these units will be replaced by machines?
The Pizza Hut chain already has robot waiters in 1000 Chinese restaurants. In the US, the Chick-fil-A chain is trying them out in several locations (again with the rationale that "they give the human staff more time" etc.).
They won't be everywhere, though. I can assure you. A certain percentage of restaurants, I imagine a minority (but it could be around 30%) will have human waiters: needless to say, they will be the very small ones or, on the contrary, the most luxurious. The rest will rely on robots, both in the dining room and in the kitchen.
