Detroit Area Restaurant Solves Staffing Issue With Robots
Michigan restaurant owners are doing whatever it takes to stay open due to lack of actual employees. Countless local restaurants have chosen to close at least one day of the week to give the employees they do have a much needed break. Locally I know Mario's Pizzeria and Sam's Italian Restaurant both closed on Tuesday's and Timothy's Pub is only open Monday through Friday - no weekends.
Although many are restaurants and or bars continue to advertise that they are hiring, people unfortunately are just not applying. So what are employers supposed to do? One Madison Heights restaurant solved their staffing issue by 'hiring' robots.
Noodle Topia in Madison Heights have two robots on staff, Bella and Hola. According to FOX 2 Detroit, Bella serves customers and Hola clears tables and cleans. You can see the futuristic pair in action in the video below. It is very impressive, I love how excited the customers are about the robots too.
So how much does a restaurant robot cost? According to Noodle Topia owner Lee Zhai, cost is roughly $800 a month per robot, and you can lease to own. It is also pointed out in the video that you don't obviously have to pay employee benefits. Honestly there are many selling points including the fact that robots won't call in sick, they don't take breaks and they don't give attitude.
I think this is actually pretty cool. We have been well aware for a long time that people would eventually be replaced by robots. I am sure the only people complaining about this will be the people who eventually decide to return to the workforce, and find out it's just too damn late.