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How robots could be the answer to staff shortages

One Japanese restaurant in Dublin is using a robotic waitress
Jack Quann
Jack Quann

17.43 9 Aug 2022


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How robots could be the answer...

How robots could be the answer to staff shortages

Jack Quann
Jack Quann

17.43 9 Aug 2022


Share this article


Robots in restaurants could be the partial answer to a staff shortage for the sector.

That's according to Paul Lenehan, president of the Restaurant Association of Ireland.

He was speaking as one Japanese restaurant in Dublin is using a robotic waitress, called BellaBot.

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A BellaBot robot on display in Las Vegas in January 2020. A BellaBot robot on display in Las Vegas in January 2020. Picture by: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

But Paul told The Hard Shoulder the approach has some problems.

"A very novel idea and I think [a] genius marketing way to be able to do something different in your restaurant.

"But I don't think it's the answer - nor would it solve the problem - of our shortages of staff in the country".

He says the pandemic means the sector has lost a lot of part-time workers.

"We've lost a generation of 19/20-year-olds that would have come into us at part-time.

"So that has certainly impacted us for our casual employees at weekends.

"But overall staffing is an issue, especially in the chefing side of things.

"Unfortunately a robot in the kitchen is certainly not going to work - whatever help a robot out on the restaurant floor would do".

However he believes the sector will have to muscle through the shortage.

"It has been made a lot easier for us to get visas to bring staff in from abroad.

"But certainty within Ireland itself, we are nearly at full employment - so people aren't out there.

"We just don't have the staff there in the first place".

Main image: A service robot is seen in a Chinese restaurant in Germany in December 2019. Picture by: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

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Bellabot Japanese Restaurant Paul Lenehan Restaurant Association Of Ireland Robot Waiters Robotic Waitress Robots Staff Shortages The Hard Shoulder

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