Would you prefer a fully automated restaurant?

[NamelessTed]

This needs to happen, ASAP. Why defend the service industry? It's a pretty crappy industry for labour. 

 

Once obsolete, replaced by automation, we won't be looking back at the service industry nostalgically; wishing: "if only we could have the next generation toiling away in service to others."  We don't raise our children to aspire to be waitresses and waiters, because it pretty much sucks. And there's a lot better things they could be doing. 

 

The sooner automation can take over jobs that has people behaving like robots, the better for humanity. 

I totally understand where you are coming from, but I don't think you are seeing the whole picture. I won't deny that the general trend going forward is going to include more and more automation for every day eating places. McDonalds has already had completely automated drink pouring for a while. As technology becomes cheaper over time it only makes sense that more and more of basic tasks will be done with computers/robots. For fast food or more basic dining experiences I don't necessarily have any issue with this trend.

 

Of course, just because some restaurants follow this trend doesn't mean "traditional" restaurants are going to be going out of business or changing to become automated. There are a lot of people that work in restaurants because it is what they love to do, myself included. The people working in a lot of restaurants don't just behave like robots. We focus on making great food and offering a great dining service. And there are a lot of people that really enjoy different dining experiences.

 

I actually think it would be really fun to eat somewhere like that sushi joint that is highly automated in that way. It would have to be a very unique way to dine. I just take issue with your stance of painting the entire restaurant industry in such a negative way.

[Wulfgar]

There's an interesting short story I read on this written by Marshall Brain (creator of howstuffworks.com) called Manna. Granted, a lot of it is quite out there but I believe a large part of it is on the mark for what the future holds for the service industry. I really recommend reading it.

 

http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

 

As for whether I would like an automated restaurant: sure, it would be a novel experience. I would always like the human factor to be in there somewhere, preferably in the form of service. Say, for instance, I feel like eating trash one day and go to McDonald's. McDonald's whole philosophy revolves around consistency. When you contemplate the caliber of employee that such a business usually hires, you realize that you won't get a huge amount of consistency with workers that care nothing about their job in the first place, and in fact probably hate it. I've worked as a manager in fast food before, I've seen it all. From people putting raw patties on a burger, to not temperature testing food that comes out of the fryer, to using stale bread because the head honcho was too shortsighted to stop sale of burgers until fresh bread could be found. In that case, I would actually prefer an automated kitchen, and even an automated ordering system, with perhaps the human element being in the form of a host, and a manager to watch over the automated systems and store in general.

 

At a fully dine-in restaurant I'd personally want everything to be as human as possible, it's what I'm paying for. Perhaps many of the food preparation techniques would be automated (they already are) but I certainly wouldn't want a robotic server to answer my questions. At least not until the AI for them gets really advanced. 

[HerEscutcheon]

So this will be like that one episode of Jimmy Neutron?

 

What could go wrong?

[qwertywarrior]

rather be food poisoned by a real person thank you 

[Wulfgar]

rather be food poisoned by a real person thank you 

 

Food poisoning isn't any less bad if done by a real person. Theoretically food safety would be more consistent in an automated restaurant.

[WereCat]

I sure would like to try eat in automated restaurant but I doubt that I would enjoy eating food like in a regular restaurant.

[KaareKanin]

Would you rather dine at a "smart" restaurant?

For me, it depends on how one defines restaurant. For places like McDonalds and Burger King etc, which really just are places for bad mass produced food which feels like it transforms your digestive system into a toxic wasteland for the next days, sure. But I would never refer to those places as restaurants. For places where actual chefs work and make actual food that they didn't just pull out of a vacuum sealed plastic bag and heat, no, I wouldn't like automation, not unless it was a part of the theme of the restaurant and integrated in a really clever way.

 

One question, would you still have to tip?

No one has to tip. The cost of a meal is listed in the menu, and that price should covers work and costs, if there's a service charge, that should also be described unmistakably. Tips is something you give to service personnel who has done a good job, and is given because you feel they deserve it and you want to award them. 

 

Some say Tips is really TIPS (To Insure Proper Service). I haven't found any credible source that says this is the case, but the the message gives perfect sense. 

[Honeydiddle]

No way, jobs will be lost left right and centre

[MattEly07]

from the job perspective, no but from the actual buying of the food maybe. I would be kinda weary about the idea though 

[JakeUnsted1]

Its a cool Idea, but it's something that wares off after time. Like someone else said; with a growing world that we have the last thing we want to do is cut jobs for robots.

[pjm0925]

No, I love tech but some things still should have a human touch.

[jackninja1]

Yes the less social and human interaction the better, cuzzz you know gamer n shit

[wpirobotbuilder]

I did a project for a class in my undergraduate studies call Entrepreneurial Selling, the goal was to come up with a business idea, flesh it out, and calculate the return on investment. My project was the automation of the McDonald's chain restaurants. Since my undergraduate background was robotics, this was a fun project.

 

We looked at a whole bunch of implementations of it, and our research put it at relatively profitable. Automation decreases costs not only associated with wages but also with training, since the rate of worker turnover is much higher in the food services industry. It also improves sanitation and decreases workplace accidents, which cost the employer in lost productivity and in compensation (limited though it is).

 

 

[it24]

It's a good idea, but i'm not sure it will ever be completely automated.

[jrfox87]

I could see this really taking off in traditional big chain restaurants, as well as in fast food places as usually they just have alright food and not very good service. Plus those types of places are usually all about cutting costs and raising profits especially if they are really big or worse, part of a publicly traded company.

[twod]

Would you rather dine at a "smart" restaurant? One question, would you still have to tip? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT4B_e40pWo

I've seen this before its quite convenient pretty good. I've seen people use it and they like the service quite a lot. As for tipping, in Japan there is no tipping, if you decided to tip they wouldn't accept it and just give back your tip. If this was outside Japan, I'd tip if it was good food.  Also, if you want another perspective from someone who went to the sushi restaurant, here are 2 video's of people using robotic restaurants in Japan. They are very similar to the video you posted http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT1r_nS3ah4  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d14DXL0eXOM

[Ookami]

I love old normal bars. In most bars like that in my country food taste 100 times better than some fancy restaurant. Ill stick to normal restaurants even with giving the tips...

[Guest]

Insanely cool, but I wouldn't want to see that in every restaurant in the world. Part of the point of eating out is to enjoy the culture of waiters and that sorta stuff. As much as it would be cool to have one in each city, not every restaurant should become this.

[Dido447]

As long as people still make the food I think it's cool

[IdeaStormer]

I did a project for a class in my undergraduate studies call Entrepreneurial Selling, the goal was to come up with a business idea, flesh it out, and calculate the return on investment. My project was the automation of the McDonald's chain restaurants. Since my undergraduate background was robotics, this was a fun project.

 

We looked at a whole bunch of implementations of it, and our research put it at relatively profitable. Automation decreases costs not only associated with wages but also with training, since the rate of worker turnover is much higher in the food services industry. It also improves sanitation and decreases workplace accidents, which cost the employer in lost productivity and in compensation (limited though it is).

 

Less restaurant type jobs but more tech jobs to fix it when it breaks and set it up, nice idea

[atrash]

If that's how you meant by automated restaurant,then I'm guessing everyone will have a table stuck to a wall or something at the sides for the machines to deliver those foods. And if it's going to be waiterless,now who's going to wipe the table clean or get special requests from the customer like for example foods that aren't on the menu or when someone spills something or even a baby chair etc2? Kinda takes out the whole dine-in experience imo.

 

If it's more of take-out style, then I'd be slight interested with the whole automated thing.

[alchemist11]

Nothing new here. Waiter-less restaurants are very common in Japan. Some have food ordering vendor machines outside of the restaurants for one to order. After they get the receipt, they enter and either sit at their designated spot or give the receipt to the chef who then serves the exact food they ordered. The purpose of automated restaurants is to eliminate long lines and the socialising factor which Japanese people don't like to do.

 

It might not work well for the west (since we are so up and about with the lack of jobs) and because we actually like do socialise (sometimes too much), but it does do a great job of eliminating long lines and wait times. It also works best for foods that can be eaten fast, such as sushi, ramen noodles, etc. It's not meant for 'family outings.' I wouldn't mind seeing it here, as long as it is in an area that has many people coming and going, such as the entertainment district.

[Braysive]

Nah, I enjoy human interaction...mostly...sometimes...whatever...

[Assassin]

Sorry but I prefer the hot waitresses at the restaurants. 

[Thisispt]

I work in a casual high end restaurant in Winnipeg. I have worked in restaurants for 15 years now and I have been all over the spectrum, from the cheap franchises(perkins, montanas) to what I think is one of the best restaurants in my city(Deer + Almond). The thing I've learned about people in restaurants is that the kind of people that will eat in an automated restaurants will have no problem eating in automated restaurants. it will likely be a Mcdonalds or some other low end franchise. Personally I think its a waste of money to go to a restaurant just to get full. I go out to eat for the experience of quality food and drink. Given that most people think good food is Moxies I know that my job is integral in the service industry, I'm not just serving staff, I'm a tour guide. I teach people about quality food every day and I friggen love it! Google Raw Almond Pop up restaurant, I can guaruntee you'll never get an experience like that with a touch screen and an automated checkout.