Inflation is on the rise and restaurants are having a difficult time keeping their costs down. At the same time, there is a struggle to keep employees, especially with the surge of walkouts happening around the world. Navia Robotics is a company that provides robots to deal with labor shortages and budgetary issues, and now may be the time for many restaurants to start using robot servers.
While not every restaurant is dealing with a shortage of labor, they may have problems with providing efficient services. Some of their workers may be sitting by doing very little when there aren’t many customers. The robots provided by Navia Robotics can help to deal with these kinds of issues as well.
There’s a new wage law taking effect next year in California, called measure AB257 (more details). This requires restaurant chains to pay their workers $22.00 an hour. Independent restaurant owners are worried that many of their workers will leave to go to the higher paying jobs at chain restaurants when this happens. The smaller companies will be trying to combat wage competition. In general, they’ll be paying $45,000 a year for each worker, which adds up to the price of about three robots from Navia Robotics.
Those robots are equipped with sensors that help them avoid furniture and other obstacles, and they have several trays for carrying food and drink items. One of their most popular robots, Bellabot, is equipped with four trays and can carry 90 pounds of food. That means in one trip, she can do the work of three fast food workers.
Navia’s serving robots turn to perform better than those from other companies, handling narrow spaces and managing close quarters navigation extremely well. When they have been employed at restaurants, these robots have received incredible feedback. They can perform a variety of tasks, including bussing dishes, serving food, and escorting guests. One of their key advantages is that they can safely handle hot items without the risk of injury. Some of them are even equipped with a birthday mode to help guests celebrates their special occasions. The robot can even upload pictures to social media platforms so that the restaurant can raise its brand awareness. The use of robots in the restaurant environment leaves the human workers free to do other tasks that robots cannot handle.
Navia Robotics’ CTO, Peter Kim, says that the robots are going to be a permanent part of the restaurant industry. He believes that restaurants that adapt to incorporating them into their workplace will be ahead of the curve, saving money and serving their customers more efficiently. His company is poised to help restaurants transition smoothly to the change.