After keying in the table number, the automated server gracefully glides across the floor, stopping in its tracks when it encounters traffic – whether a fellow robot or human – before making its way to the tables. Customers then pick up the food from the trays.
A future with robot waiters is all but inevitable. Post-pandemic, the F&B industry is among the hardest-hit sectors, with an acute labour shortage of about 40,000 restaurant workers.
And with foreign-worker approval rates at a meagre 0.55% out of over 470,000 applications, it’s no surprise many business owners have had to shutter their restaurants.
Automated server robots have gradually been trickling into the Kuala Lumpur food scene, even at late-night mamak chains. The company behind PuduBot S, Shenzhen-based tech enterprise Pudu Robotics, recognised the need to develop performance-driven delivery robots as early as 2016.
Run by a young entrepreneurial team led by founder Felix Zhang, Pudu Robotics is fast becoming one of China’s leading tech enterprises in global markets, supplying robots to over 60 countries and 600 cities worldwide. Its presence is in hospitals, schools, offices, shopping malls, hotels, and factories.
Notable global clients include Hai Di Lao, Ding Tai Fung, McDonald’s, Tim Ho Wan, Marriott Bonvoy, and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts.
“Often, people have a misconception that robots are replacing human staff,” said regional brand manager Eva Hu. “That is not the case. Robots are here to complement the service team by offloading menial tasks, leaving room to upskill workers
“The pandemic has sped up the rollout of robot servers in the hospitality industry as more consumers become more sensitive to the risk of physical interactions,” she added. With lower perceived physical contact, customers may be more inclined to patronise establishments.
Pudu Robotics collaborates with local distributors who share its mission of utilising technology to improve the efficiency of human production and living. In Malaysia, distributor Secure Robotics has exclusively introduced PuduBot S to the market.
“We were approaching potential restaurants two years ago, even before the pandemic,” Secure Robotics director Benjamin Chong told Set The Tables.
“During the pandemic, we saw an increase in interest. In fact, one of our clients, a popular BBQ chain, was so satisfied with the trial that they immediately signed up for service robots in all its outlets.
“Hiring robot servers is unquestionably more cost-effective in the long run,” he said. “With limited resources, it reduces the workload of your restaurant’s existing servers.”
Not as expensive as you think
A robot server can range from RM40,000 up to RM80,000. This might seem like a mammoth initial investment, but is it really?
In KL, the average annual pay for a human server is approximately RM21,600 to RM30,000, excluding EPF, health insurance, injury claims, time invested in training, sick leave, and aspects pertaining to mental-emotional wellbeing.
Secure Robotics offer monthly rental plans as low as RM1,800 for a one-year contract. As Chong put it: “Server robots do not take leave; they show up every day and are always punctual.”
Furthermore, hiring a robot waiter is more cost-effective in the long run, as workplace injuries, theft, and no-shows are significantly reduced.
Pudu Robotics’ Hu added that its first-generation robots are still in the market five years on, making it a worthwhile long-term investment.
Measured productivity
Waiters typically make numerous trips between the kitchen and the tables. Robots perform these tasks automatically, freeing human servers to focus on higher-value tasks such as conversing with customers and attending to their needs.
When human waiters have more time, they naturally feel happier and provide better service.
Robots are also popular with customers. “Our serving robots are a huge hit with young children,” said Kelvin Tan of local Thai-fusion chain Black Canyon.
“They attract attention with their blinking LED lights, adorable upbeat voiceover, and interactiveness, and we have seen an uptick in families with children.”
Black Canyon’s 25 outlets across Malaysia use BellaBot, also from Pudu Robotics. The restaurant chain lost 40% of its staff last year and plans to have at least two robots per outlet to overcome the shortage.
All in all, the incorporation of robots can only support and improve the F&B industry’s levels of service. In decades to come, it will undoubtedly be commonplace for customers to be served their egg fried rice by an automated, electronic waiter.
Service with a smile? That you will surely get.
This article was written by Theri Burhan for Set the Tables. Set the Tables is positioned to inspire and educate those in the industry as well as the aspiring reader who dreams of a future in the food business, and maybe even the merely curious tantalised by the vast and irresistible universe of food and drink.