Guests visiting a new grill house in Aberdeen will get an unusual welcome as they are greeted by the area’s first robot waiters when it opens in a few weeks.
Those heading to Cartoos on the Beach Promenade will be shown to their table by the state-of-the-art technology which can also converse and serve customers, too.
Sunny Bhatti, owner of the new eatery which also has an ice cream parlour called Love Ice Cream within it, wanted to bring something unique to the beachfront.
Two Pudu robots have been imported from China and are priced at around £15,000 each.
The robots become more advanced the more tasks they perform and also have a facial recognition function, which will not be activated due to data protection.
He added: “The technology came out in 2019. It speaks with you, interacts with you, takes you to your table and brings your food to you. If you touch it, it makes comments like ‘you’ve got soft hands’ and things like that.
“Its voice mimics a cat, so it will meow – it is very different. They recognise each other and can pick up when customers are in the restaurant. I don’t need a manager as they can assess the restaurant and count how many people are in the venue.
“Right now it is more like a child. The more we teach it, the more it retains this intelligence and it will only get smarter.
“It brings the food to your table and you’ll be able to take it off the robot – it will announce itself to you when it arrives.”
Hospitality crisis
According to Sunny it is less likely to spread germs and the businessman also outlines that with the growing hospitality crisis worsening with a lack of staff available, having robots working will ensure he can remain open no matter if staff are off sick.
“There’s less interaction with human beings and it is less likely to spread germs. It is the best thing during Covid we could have,” he said.
“It is very hard and costly to find good staff. Instead of five members of staff I only actually need three as I have the robots. I’m saving money and there’s no sick leave and they do what I want.
I don’t need a manager as they can assess the restaurant and can count how many people are in the venue.”
Sunny Bhatti, owner of Cartoos.
“One battery equates to 12 hours of working so we have a spare battery which we can change in and it could work 24 hours if needed.”
As well as Cartoos, Sunny also owns Lahore Karahi on King Street in the city centre and a restaurant in Oman in the Middle East.
Cartoos, which seats 120 people per sitting, took nine months to refurbish and the entrepreneur sourced the furnishings and tableware from Las Iguanas which closed down in Union Square.
He managed to purchase everything from the restaurant at a highly discounted price and as a result, he has also offered a few of the former staff jobs who will join his team of 25 staff.
Staff reaction
With plans to purchase more robots and have a fleet of them working in the venue from the kitchen to the restaurant floor, what do the staff think of the new additions?
He added: “The staff are actually excited about it. They were shocked when they saw it in action.
“Once its task is done it will go and stand on its position. It walks around itself and stays out of the way.
“Customers will come in, be taken to their tables by the robots, scan a barcode to order and the order goes to the kitchen. We get the order ready, put it on the back of the robot and the robot brings the food to you.
“You’ll lift the food from it and you can ask for cutlery or need anything else, the other one will come along with whatever you need.
“Staff members can also serve, but if you want the robot, you can request it.
“The staff will be there to make sure customers are reassured. This technology is just out and they are developing it.
“In the future this place will be totally robotic, even the cooking staff. If I need 10 members of staff (now) I’ll only need three or four as the rest of the cooking will be done robotically – it’s something for the end of this year.”
Phase 2 – glass conservatory with beach views
Love Ice Cream will serve up more than 60 ice cream flavours, waffles, freakshakes and more. It is currently open and also boasts outdoor seating.
The second stage of the opening, once the restaurant is in full swing, will result in a glass conservatory being built to extend the restaurant and open it up to panoramic views of the beach.
He added: “It will be somewhere people can enjoy the beach no matter if it is raining, snowing or sunny. They’ll be able to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with outstanding views.
“The ice cream parlour is now open and we’ve got partitions to separate the restaurant from it. Customers will use the same entrance to get ice cream and can queue at one side of the partition. Those coming into the restaurant can bypass this.
“The ice cream parlour also has a window outside where you can order from as well.”
For more information or to book, visit the Facebook page here.