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https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Food-Beverage/Japan-s-Skylark-rolls-out-robo-waiters-for-contactless-dining?utm_campaign=GL_JP_update&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=4&pub_date=20211019090000&seq_num=20&si=44594 Japan's Skylark rolls out robo-waiters for contactless dining Restaurants seek solutions to labor shortages as restrictions are lifted Skylark has been testing the robot waiters at family restaurants in Tokyo. (Photo courtesy of Skylark) RISA KAWABA, Nikkei staff writerOctober 18, 2021 03:36 JST TOKYO -- Dinner will be served robot-style at 2,000 eateries run by Skylark Holdings, Japan's largest operator of family restaurants, by the end of next year. The robot waiters can ferry food for up to four people to a designated table, then bring dishes back once customers are done eating. In a trial that started in August in Tokyo, the robots cut the number of steps staff members took by half during busy periods. With authorities easing restrictions on dining out and other activities that had been curtailed over pandemic concerns, Skylark aims to compensate for the restaurant industry's chronic worker shortage without sacrificing service quality. Robot servers also reduce contact between customers and human staff, lowering the risk of virus transmission. The robots will be introduced by the end of April 2022 at 1,000 or so locations, including certain Gusto restaurants and all of the Syabuyo shabu-shabu Japanese-style hot-pot chain. By the end of that year, they will be at more than 60% of Skylark's roughly 3,000 restaurants across Japan. Funding for the robot servers will come from the 43 billion yen ($380 million) or so raised by Skylark in June, 6 billion yen of which has been earmarked for technology investment. Other recent tech moves by Skylark include the adoption of cashless payments in May 2019 and touch-screen menus in February 2020. The pandemic has spurred other Japanese restaurant companies to give robot workers a try. Saizeriya, an operator of Italian eateries, has been trying out robot servers since the spring of 2020, with tests of its third model starting this September. It plans to introduce them at busy locations once the results are in. Pub operator Watami now has robots serving dishes at 16 of its 26 Yakiniku no Watami barbecue restaurants in Japan.

I was at a restaurant waiting and watching the teenage waiters and waitresses work their butts off serving a very crowded dinner crowd. I told my wife even though their salaries are low and they receive no tips, hopefully their cut of the 10% service charge makes up for the effort. My wife, who knows the F&B industry quite well, laughed and said only in the ideal world. In the real world all revenues go to towkay's wallet. That left me quite disturbed. Any waiters, F&B fellas can clarify?