Recently, a restaurant in Yunfu, which is located in a remote place, was struggling to recruit workers, and introduced robot waiters instead of manual workers, with a daily turnover of over 11,111. Recently, many towns and streets in Dongguan have also introduced such robots into restaurants.

The reporter found that it has become a trend for restaurants to station service robots. Since the beginning of this year, many restaurants in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Huizhou, Meizhou and other places have been replaced by machines, and the appearance of serving food, delivering water and singing has "sprouted everyone" and brought prosperity to the store business. Some insiders pointed out that robot restaurants will become more and more popular in the future. However, some people think that robots lack "human touch" and cannot completely replace labor.

Yunfu

The single-day turnover of the robot waiter's "on-the-job" restaurant exceeded 11,111

Recently, in Xinxing County of Yunfu City, a restaurant in a remote location was struggling to recruit workers, and robot waiters were introduced to replace labor, with a single-day turnover of 11,111 yuan, saving 51,111 yuan in labor costs every year.

the price of a single unit is 61,111

I undertake the delivery work

"Handsome and beautiful, I'm working, please excuse me." Whenever this prompt sounded in the fishing port of Dexing County, Yunfu City, the boss Huang Shouquan felt dumbfounding. "There are naughty children deliberately blocking the way again."

The sender of the "Give Way Request" is a robot waiter. In the process of delivering food, if there is a customer blocking the road, the robot waiter will give a hint of "borrowing the road". At the same time, the LED display screen on the robot waiter's head will flash with different patterns such as hearts and arrows, and the scene is hilarious.

Huang Shouquan said that robots were introduced because the restaurant was far away from the county town, and it was difficult for employees to find and recruit workers, so he wanted to replace manual labor with robot waiters. "Restaurant robots are divided into many types according to their functions, such as food delivery robots, welcome robots and ordering robots. Our robot waiters here mainly undertake the function of food delivery. The price of a single machine is as high as 61,111 yuan, and a total of two machines are introduced. "

as for the working principle of the robot waiter, it is not complicated. "The robot waiter first waits at the food-taking window, and then a staff member will put the prepared food into the tray. There is a special electromagnetic induction motion track on the floor of the restaurant. As long as the staff starts the work program, the robot waiter will send the dishes to the corresponding dining table according to the preset route. " Huang Shouquan introduced.

after arriving at the dining table, the robot will send a "request for taking food" to the customer: "Your order has been delivered to the guest of XX, please take it down for dinner, thank you." Subsequently, the robot will automatically identify whether the plate has been taken away, then consciously straighten up, leaving a sentence "Please enjoy your meal" and return to the vegetable fetching window along the original trajectory for standby.

attract consumption to break through 11,111 yuan

save operating costs

According to Huang Shouquan, the restaurant has received as many as 311 customers every day since it opened at the end of September, and its daily turnover has exceeded 11,111 yuan. It is generally reported that dining is to experience the freshness of robot waiter's delivery.

In Huang Shouquan's view, robot waiters can not only attract guests, but also save labor costs. "Two robots cost 21,111 yuan, with a service life of 6 years and an average annual consumption of 21,111 yuan. It costs 31 thousand yuan a year to hire a laborer according to the local wage level. Two robots are equivalent to three laborers. After deducting maintenance fees and electricity fees, it means that the annual cost can be saved by 51,111 yuan. "

with a big round head and chubby figure, he came with freshly baked delicacies in his hand. "Hello, customer, your order has arrived." Recently, the reporter saw the first robot waiter in a Hunan restaurant in Dalang Town, Dongguan, and such robots have been introduced into restaurants in Nancheng, Huangjiang and other towns and streets.

Tan Hui is the owner of Hunan Restaurant. She named the robot in the shop "Lannan". "We spent 111,111 yuan to introduce this waiter. Short-term investment seems to be a little big, but it is still very affordable in the long run. It can support three people. Next, I will introduce four food delivery robots one after another. " A customer who was dining told reporters that after learning that the restaurant had introduced a robot waiter, he took his family to experience it. "It's quite fresh to experience the robot food delivery service for the first time. My son just danced' Little Apple' with the robot and had a good time. "

There is also a farm restaurant in Dongcheng that has launched a robot food delivery service. The reporter saw at the scene that the two blue and white robots are about 1.55 meters high. After the dishes are placed on the trays in their hands, they will send the dishes to the fixed dining table along the black track, and then they will say "Welcome". If people or stools block the way along the way, they will stop and voice prompts customers to remove obstacles.

the person in charge of the restaurant also admitted that at present, the robot can't complete the actions such as ordering and passing dishes, and someone must help or the guests themselves to bring the dishes from the tray to the table. (Reporter Wen Cong, correspondent Zhou Zihui)

Some people say that it can save labor costs, while others say that "gimmicks" are more effective.

Viewpoint PK

Is it to save labor costs for restaurants or to make gimmicks? Some insiders wrote on the science and technology website that in recent years, the catering industry is facing the risks brought by the increase of labor costs. Under the new market situation, the organic combination of robots and restaurants has opened up a new innovation point for restaurants and reduced operating costs. Robot restaurants will be more and more popular in the future. However, some restaurant owners admit that gimmicks are one of the most important factors, and robots can't replace manual services in the catering industry.

The person in charge of a farm in Dongcheng, Dongguan, told the reporter that he had considered using robots to deliver food for two or three years. "The biggest advantage of robots is that they have no temper. As long as they are fully charged, they can work continuously for 24 hours and can be used for at least five years. At present, it is more and more difficult to recruit workers in Dongguan, and the labor cost is rising. The various costs of an employee's food, clothing and accommodation are also 41,111 yuan to 51,111 yuan per year. Although each robot costs more than 111,111 yuan, after careful calculation, on average, it is more than 21,111 yuan per year, which is definitely worth the money in the long run. "

Do restaurants buy food delivery robots only to save labor costs, without the meaning of blogging? The owner of a restaurant in Tangxia Town, Dongguan admitted to the reporter that with the arrival of robots, many customers came here with curiosity, and the turnover of the restaurant increased by more than 21%. "One of the great functions of robots is' gimmicks', which makes customers feel novel. They send photos to Weibo and WeChat to promote the restaurant. Our peers have also discussed that robots can't completely replace manual services. Because the robot still has to manually input which table to send food to, and can only slide on the flat ground, it is not so convenient when it meets steps or obstacles. "

Mr. Yin, the owner of a Chaoshan hot pot restaurant in Chancheng, Foshan, also said that the robot waiter is still a machine after all, just a tool, lacking human touch, unable to respond to the specific needs of customers and unable to completely replace labor. The foundation of the restaurant is still the service attitude and the quality of the dishes. (Huang Hancheng, Wen Cong)