Robin Sahota is among Surrey restaurateurs who’ve put robot waiters to work.
He has three of them serving and hosting at Paratha 2 Pasta, which makes a fusion of Indian and Italian food on Scott Road in Newton.
The first one, a wig-adorned robot named Pinky, was put into service two years ago when the restaurant first opened, but she’s retired now and stands guard near the kitchen.
“We started with them because nobody had them in Surrey — we were the first in this area,” Sahota declared.
Today there are several restaurants in Surrey that use robot servers, according to Mary Ann Bell, community manager with Discover Surrey tourism office. They include Ming Yan Seafood Restaurant, Spice of Nepal, Satya Asha, Neptune Palace at Surrey Central, Veerji Fish & Grill and Desi Rasoi, Bell says.
The robots attract diners, especially younger ones, and could also work to address the restaurant industry’s labour shortage.
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“They don’t do all the work, because we need people to help too,” Sahota noted. “They don’t replace humans, they’re just an attraction. We have employees who do the serving too.”
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^^ Robot waiter Pinku greets guests at Surrey's Paratha 2 Pasta restaurant.
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At Paratha 2 Pasta, a cherubic, smiling robot named Pinku greets and seats guests, and Pinka delivers food to the tables and brings dirty dishes back to the kitchen.
“It’s a full family,” Sahota said with a laugh.
“The kids like them, and they always come to see them and run behind them, touch them,” he added.
With the touch of a couple buttons, the robots start rolling around the restaurant, the first for Sahota after his 20 years in the food business.
Worldwide, many think robot waiters are the solution to the industry’s labor shortages. Sales of them have been growing rapidly in recent years, with tens of thousands now gliding through dining rooms around the globe.
But others say robot waiters aren’t much more than a gimmick that have a long way to go before they can replace humans. They can’t take orders, and many restaurants have steps, outdoor patios and other physical challenges they can’t adapt to.
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Li Zhai, a restaurant operator in Madison Heights, Michigan, first put robot waiters to work in the summer of 2021. Now, he needs only three people to do the same volume of business that five or six people used to handle. A robot costs around $15,000, he said, but a human costs $5,000 to $6,000 per month.
Zhai said the robots give human servers more time to mingle with customers, which increases tips. And customers often post videos of the robots on social media that entice others to visit.
“Besides saving labour, the robots generate business,” he said.
Sahota says his robots are worth the purchase price.
“It’s fine, they’re a little bit expensive but when they are moving and working, people come to see them,” he said. “We get a good response from them. It’s part of what we do. They are popular.”
with files from Associated Press