The owner of a Dallas restaurant has “hired” robots to greet customers, deliver food to tables and even sing “Happy Birthday,” CNN Business reported Wednesday.
Espartaco Borga, the owner of La Duni since 2001, rented robots from American Robotech, a robotics firm based in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas, for $15 each per day, CNN Business reported. He called the decision a “no-brainer” because he cannot find anybody to work, according to CNN Business. (RELATED: US Labor Shortage Surges To New Record High As Unemployment Remains Elevated)
The Dallas restaurant, La Duni, had turned to robots to help serve customers. https://t.co/Y0yVQvwh0W
— CBSDFW (@CBSDFW) September 7, 2021
“The very next day [American Robotech] showed up, they mapped the restaurant, and they assigned the tables numbers within 45 minutes,” Borga told the outlet. “After a day, the girl at the expo line was in love with this because her arm didn’t hurt after carrying 60 trays in a day.”
The servers walk with the robots that deliver the food on trays. Borga told CNN Business he is able to pay his employees more even though they’re working less.
“No one wants to work in hospitality right now,” Borga told CNN Business. Borga said he can’t find anyone to fill the positions, and said that the robots are not taking away jobs.
“[The customers] don’t even see them as what they are, which is a tablet on wheels,” he said. “They see them as part of the service experience because these robots have a personality, they can interact. If you touch them, they giggle and they tell you things.”