In recent days, all kinds of "unmanned" concept stores have come into public view.

The "unmanned supermarket" created by the popular Ma Yun and the novel future store of Dicos unmanned restaurant ... The "unmanned mode" entered the catering industry with a strong posture.

Looking at this new "smart trend", diners can't help asking:

"Is unmanned restaurant really reliable?" "Will the unmanned catering industry in the future replace the work of waiters?"

This seems to be a controversial topic forever. Today, I will discuss it with you.

First, the Internet is "unmanned".

Recently, the "unmanned mode" has taken the limelight in all walks of life.

In July p>2117, Alibaba's first unmanned supermarket, Amoy Coffee, was officially unveiled. At present, the shopping process of "Amoy Coffee" is like this: users log in to Taobao account before entering the store, and after entering the payment password, they can enter the store to order food and shop. After taking the goods, they don't have to queue up for cashier, but only need to pass through the "settlement gate" composed of two doors when leaving the store. When the first door senses the user's departure demand, it will automatically open; After a few seconds, the second door will be opened. At this time, the deduction has been completed, and the reminder on the side will tell the user, "Alipay will deduct XX yuan."

in early August p>2117, Dicos Shanghai launched a brand-new unmanned store model.

In this Dicos Future Store, in addition to the original ordering table, there is also a row of take-out cupboards in the lobby area. Using this set of self-service meal taking equipment, Dicos boldly explored and reshaped the process of the front office, ordering, paying, taking meals and dining without the intervention of employees.

all these "black technologies" look very beautiful, but is this really the case?

second, "unmanned" restaurants, will this be the future of the catering industry?

"unmanned restaurant" seems to be able to liberate the manpower of the restaurant, improve the efficiency of the restaurant and save the cost of the restaurant. However, this is based on the fact that the technology of all aspects of catering, such as payment, ordering and production, is very mature and the technical cost has been accepted by the public.

The truly complete "unmanned restaurant" has not been realized yet, and it is more like a "gimmick" of restaurant marketing.

The relevant person in charge of Ali said that "Amoy Coffee" will not become a real unmanned supermarket in the future, and there will still be shopping guides in the supermarket to guide consumption; The prototype of Dicos "unmanned restaurant" American Eatsa restaurant chef is still manual, not a real "unmanned restaurant".

The essence of catering industry is service industry, and when people try to change the service provider from a person to a cold machine, the consequences can be imagined.

there are three mountains in front of the "unmanned restaurant" to truly enter the hearts of customers and become the future development trend.

1, the relevant technology is not yet mature

Now all the "unmanned" modes are only realizing no cashier, no waiter, but not no buyer, no chef and so on.

from the technical point of view, apart from providing standardized products, there is no perfect solution for "unmanned" to provide services such as changing the taste of dishes, solving customers' complaints, cleaning up leftover meals and customers' personalized needs. If all dining links use "unmanned" instead of labor, the cost of technology development and maintenance will actually far exceed the cost of labor.

2. The retrogression of user experience and emotional communication

After the upgrading of consumption, the proportion of young customers is getting higher and higher. For customers, eating in a restaurant is no longer just to satisfy their appetite, but also has social and entertainment functions, and spiritual comfort and pleasure have become more concerned.

In this sense, "unmanned mode" is actually a retrogression of service. The efficiency of "unmanned" is for catering enterprises, but for customers, the lack of communication can not make them feel the benefits of "unmanned mode", but will reduce the quality of their dining experience.

3. The Chinese style of "unmanned restaurant" is not acclimatized.

In the catering industry, there have always been two modes: X theory and Y theory.

theory x refers to the highly programmed implementation of production and business processes, with very clear rules and reward and punishment mechanisms. American restaurant chain enterprises usually focus on theory x, such as KFC, McDonald's, Starbucks, etc. These enterprises are characterized by rapid expansion and high standardization.

theory y refers to inspiring employees' enthusiasm for production with humanized ideas, taking personal ideas and goals as the same as those of the team as the foundation, taking humanized management system as the core, without a clear reward and punishment mechanism, and everything is based on personal concept of honor and disgrace. In Japan, most enterprises take theory y as the management core.

and what about China? Judging from the management mode, most restaurants in China still adopt Y-style management methods, such as Haidilao, which has been imitated and never surpassed, and makes the brand development far ahead with humanized management; Judging from the characteristics of dishes, China people's favorite Chinese food, snacks and other categories often attach great importance to the chef's "skills", and chefs with "skills" will cherish the warmth and heart in the food, which also makes it impossible for catering enterprises to simply replace the important role of "manpower" in restaurant management.

in the final analysis, "unmanned restaurants" and traditional restaurants are not the relationship between substitution and substitution, but the whole catering industry may exist at the same time. Just like even if human beings invented AlphaGo, they would still like to appreciate the top-level confrontation between chess players. Machines ultimately serve human beings, not replace them. "Intelligent restaurant" is an important proposition for many restaurants in the future. Intelligentization can help diners manage more scientifically and provide customers with faster and better service. But no matter how intelligent it is, as a place for people to communicate, people's emotional expression will never be replaced by cold machines.