Hospitality
The robot “Bella” serves the food
Innkeeper Tim Bornewasser in his restaurant with his digital “employee”, the serving robot “Bella”. Photo: Marcus Brandt / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The corona pandemic has had a hard time affecting the hospitality industry, and employees are now “in short supply” in many restaurants. A restaurateur in Grömitz got unusual help.
In a restaurant in the Baltic Sea resort of Grömitz, the robot “Bella” has been bringing the dishes for a few days. With the unusual helper, innkeeper Tim Bornewasser wants to counteract the staff shortage in the catering trade.
The speaking machine should by no means replace human service staff, said Bornewasser. But he could relieve them of walking distances, for example between the kitchen and dining room, and thereby noticeably relieve them, he said.
The robot looks like a serving trolley with four trays, instead of a face it has a display with a cute cat face. Fully loaded with orders, he rolls from the kitchen to the tables. “Here comes your food,” says a friendly woman’s voice. If the path is blocked, the voice asks: “May I stop by, please” and after dinner, “Bella” brings the dishes back into the kitchen. The actual serving, taking orders and clearing the tables, however, are done by Bella’s human colleagues.
“I got the idea of purchasing the robot when many service staff turned their backs on the catering trade in the Corona crisis,” says Bornewasser. “This cannot be compensated for with more rest days alone, which is why we are now relying on technology,” said the technology-loving innkeeper.
According to Bornewasser, the service robot cost around 20,000 euros. “He doesn’t need a vacation for that, never gets sick and can theoretically be on duty seven days a week. I assume that it will have paid for itself after 120 days, ”he says. In any case, the first reactions of his visitors to Bella are very positive.
Nationwide, according to the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), almost 80 percent of all catering establishments now have major problems finding suitable workers.
However, the Schleswig-Holstein regional association of Dehoga is still cautious about the use of robots in service. “These are individual company decisions that we do not evaluate,” said the managing director of Dehoga Schleswig-Holstein, Stefan Scholtis, on Tuesday. “At the moment we see this more as a marketing campaign by the company. It remains to be seen whether this will prevail. “