Florida Restaurant Uses Robots To Greet Customers And Deliver Food To Tables Amid Staff Shortages

While it’s still not 100% safe to eat out at local restaurants, people are anxious to get back to some sense of a “normal” life a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and businesses have put practices in place to try and make doing so secure as possible. However, that has led to staff shortages at many establishments due to workers needing to self-isolate, and one restaurant in Florida has taken a clever approach to the problem by hiring robots to fill gaps in its schedule.

  1. Mr. Q Crab House in Hollywood, Florida is embracing the future. The seafood spot invested $30,000 in three foodservice robots, according to Fox 23. The AI is so intelligent that the robots are able to perform plenty of tasks that would normally be handed to servers or other front-of-house staff. The business’ owner, Joy Wang, thought this could be the way to solve the staffing problems and so far, it seems she was right.
  2. So what do the robots do? While the robots can’t cook any of the food or bus the tables, they can greet customers as they enter, escort them to their seats, and even deliver food to the appropriate tables during busy times. In addition, the robots are said to be able to sing “Happy Birthday” to customers in four different languages.
  3. Don’t worry, they’re not taking humans’ jobs. While some people might worry that technology will soon mean that humans will have no place in the business world and jobs will go, that’s not the case. Mr. Q Crab House is still using actual people to take orders and help with any issues/queries customers might have. And yes, humans are still preparing the dishes in the kitchen.
  4. The robots don’t even take any tips! While the robots are helping staff at the restaurant and making their jobs a little less frantic/stressful, thankfully, the wait staff still get to keep 100% of the tips for themselves. It seems like a win-win situation to me!

 

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience. The managing editor of Bolde, she has bylines in Vanity Fair, Business Insider, The New York Times, Glamour, Bon Appetit, and many more. You can follow her on Twitter @jenniferlstill
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