Robot Delivery Waiters are being introduced to some restaurants in an effort to help solve staff shortages while also boosting innovation and making a dining experience more exciting, would you try it?
The majority of hospitality news at the moment is surrounding post-pandemic issues and staff shortages. Even if you’re lucky enough to have the most loyal employees, they are still bound to move on, go on holidays or become sick at times. Savvy hospitality businesses are beginning to think of new ways to combat these staffing problems. And this year, we’re seeing the rise of robot delivery waiters.
Robot delivery waiters are simply robots programmed to deliver food and drinks to tables. The food or drink is placed onto the robot by a chef or member of staff and the robot then takes the meal to the correct table and it is unloaded either by the customer or another employee.
The trend is especially popular with Japanese restaurants, like well-known all-you-can-eat restaurant franchise, Okami. Okami’s robot waiters bring food and drink to customers and can even return dirty dishes to the kitchen to assist staff.
Like anything in hospitality there are pros and cons to introducing any new system to your venue, so let’s take a look at what it could mean for you:
Staffing
Yes, the robot delivery waiters may eliminate the need for extra floor staff that only deliver food. But how many of your staff are only delivering food? The robots cannot answer questions about the meals or deal with issues (yet) so they may end up being more work for the staff that are rostered on. They are particularly suited to restaurants that are all-you-can-eat or those that have very set menus.
Layout
The robot delivery waiters cannot go up and down stairs, fit through tight spaces or navigate around busy venues so they would be best suited to large venues with plenty of space between tables. Your kitchen pass may have to be modified to allow room for the robot delivery waiter to be handed the food or wait for food to be prepped.
Novelty factor
There is no doubting that a robot delivery waiter would make your customer experience exciting. Having a robot delivery waiter is a brand new and very exciting concept. They are only in limited places and are still novelty as they have not been normalised. Customers are more likely to share their experience online and with friends, essentially creating free marketing for your business. Customers will also travel from near and far just to visit the robots.
Could robot delivery waiters be the thing of the future? How would they go in your restaurant? If you like the sound of increased service efficiency but aren’t convinced by robot waiters, another (less robotic) option is to try our pre-sliced burger buns, premade rustic garlic bread and loaves that are ready to thaw or bake and serve!
