‘Smart’ coffee shops
PATRONS at two new coffee shops in Tampines and Choa Chu Kang in Singapore can look forward to fussfree dining experiences, with innovations such as tray-return robots, digital ordering and cashless payment options.
Launched over the weekend, they are the first two “productive” coffee shops in the Lion City.
Productive coffee shops are among the innovative business formats identified under the Food Services Industry Transformation Map, which food companies can adopt to use less manpower and better meet consumers’ needs.
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Sim Ann said that a tender for “productive” coffee shops in Bukit Batok, Punggol and Yishun will be called from the third quarter of this year.
The Tampines and Choa Chu Kang coffee shops are the first batch set up under a tender system which was revised last year to include productivity considerations. The Singaporean government targets to have 100 of such coffee shops by 2020.
This comes as coffee shop operators face challenges such as the tightening of the labour market and changing workforce aspirations.
Recently, Sim launched the FoodTastic coffee shop in Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1. The coffee shop, operated by Chang Cheng Group, features an array of smart technologies, from a food-waste composter machine to an automatic floor-cleaning robot.
It also boasts a ready-to-eat hot food vending machine as well as a tray-return automation system and a tray-return robot.
Those who visited the coffee shop said that innovative solutions such as the self-ordering kiosks and mobile applications make the dining experience more pleasant, and take away the hassle of standing in long queues for food.
IT manager Johnny Toh, 42, who was there with his family, is pleased to find that coffee shops are evolving. “It definitely makes eating at a coffee shop more interesting. There are also no more long queues to order food.”
Compared with Chang Cheng’s other coffee shops, FoodTastic’s use of technology has reduced manpower by up to 60%.
Ricky Kok, managing director of Chang Cheng Group, said coffee shops have to modernise to improve the work environment, and his staff can be allocated to “more value-added job designations”.
“W e hope that this will also change the perception of the industry and attract more workers to join us, given the exciting prospects ahead.”
Environment and W ater Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli recently launched the Happy Hawkers coffee shop, operated by Koufu, in Tampines Street 86. It has self-ordering kiosks as well as a food-waste digester and a smart tray-return robot, among other features.
Masagos said adjustments must be made as coffee shops adopt smart technologies, such as having robots return used trays, but that the transformation is also necessary to ensure their sustainability. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network