Restaurant robots are in the Triangle to serve, clean, and sing you happy birthday
Brimming bowls of steaming pho are heavy, but the new server at Pho 919 eased the lunchtime rush by shuttling dishes to multiple tables in a single run. “Have a good one, enjoy,” the Servi Delivery Robot proclaimed as a human coworker removed a bowl of beef, broth, and noodles from its tray and placed it before a curious customer.
“It’s no longer hypothetical,” the diner said as the robot swiveled and motored back to the kitchen. “It’s a sign of the times.”
Servi debuted at the Morrisville restaurant a few weeks ago. Ahead of its first shift, the machine mapped out the layout — the configuration of booths, aisles, and kitchen — to ensure smooth navigation. To operate, staff tap table numbers on Servi’s screen and tell it whether it’s bringing meals or taking away plates.
The robot cost more than $15,000 upfront, an investment owner Michael Wongkittiroch says is worthwhile if it means delivering more dishes and putting less physical strain on his employees.
In Wake Forest, another robot plays traditional Mexican music as it transports food from kitchen to tables at Tlaquepaque Mexican Cuisine. It can also serenade customers with Happy Birthday in both English and Spanish.
“The kids love it,” server Maria Torrez said.
Pho 919 and Tlaquepaque are among the few Wake County restaurants to embrace robot servers. One company hopes more soon join.
Based in Dallas, Robotlab doesn’t manufacture the machines; instead, it partners with robot makers to test, sell and service their models. “Most of the manufacturers are international,” Kalpesh Patel, head of the company’s Raleigh office, said during an open house event Wednesday. “They can’t easily provide support to customers. Plus, there are often language barriers.”
Robotlab expanded to Raleigh in November, and now has eight locations, including in Charlotte. By the end of next year, it aspires to be in 100 markets says CEO Elad Inbar, who founded the business in 2007.
The company offers more than 40 robots, each designed for specific sectors. Some provide education. Others clean, augment security (with cameras and lasers, Inbar said), or aid assisted living centers. A cheery-voiced robot named Pepper —with a face, arms, legs, and ability to high-five — is marketed to the hospitality industry, and starts at around $35,000.
And then there are the restaurant robots. In recent months, Robolab has sold to Pho 919 and the Shuckin’ Shack in Rocky Mount.
On its website, Robotlab asserts automation can address persisting labor shortages in delivery, elder care, and food services. The company stresses these machines are there to elevate, not eliminate, jobs.
“We are here to provide a tool for the existing staff,” said Lauri Arntsen, a sales specialist at Robotlab Raleigh. “They can then go on to do more important jobs (within a company.)”
North Carolina restaurateurs didn’t cite staff shortages for why they purchased robots.
“I more or less bought it for a novelty, and everybody seems to like it,” said Glen Yasser, owner of the Rocky Mount Shuckin’ Shack. “I’m not looking to replace any servers or anything like that.”
The Shuckin’ Shack robot is called a Temi, an autonomous host capable of playing music, displaying advertisements, singing Happy Birthday, along with delivering meals. Like Pho 919, the restaurant introduced its robot within the past month. Yasser said his team — and his customers — are still learning what the machine can do.
The robot at Tlaquepaque provides entertainment and utility, said Albert Selchow, who manages that restaurant as well as three area Mamacita locations and Mariscos Nayarit in Raleigh. Each also have a robot.
Waiters, food runners, and guacamole preparers can meet the machine tableside rather than have to walk to the kitchen to retrieve meals. And the kids, he said, are enthralled.
“A long time ago, it used to be ‘Look there’s a plane. A plane!,’” he said. “Now it’s ‘Here comes the robot. Here comes the robot’. It’s like the Jetsons.”
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