Robots ready to serve
At recently opened Gen Korean BBQ House, staff receives some automated assistance
FREMONT >> As the flashing robot glided toward the Hou family’s table carrying fresh plates of Korean BBQ, Michael Hou casually lifted the plate of food and set it down on the table, adding to the family’s expanding spread.
The robots were one of the reasons the family came to the new Gen Korean BBQ House in Fremont, which opened its doors Aug. 26. By 11 a.m. Saturday, dozens of other families had already filled the spacious restaurant on Boscell Road, designed with blue lighting, a full bar and sleek booths. It was a perfect setting for the Hous, who said they enjoy trying out new restaurants.
“My parents found out that they actually had robots, which are very interactive when it
comes to bringing out food,” said Michael, 22. “We thought it'd be interesting to come out and give it a go.
“It's really fun,” he added. “You just put in an order and they come out and you're like wow, there it is.'”
No, the high-tech gadgets aren't exactly what people typically picture when they think of a robot. Decked out with multi-colored LED lights, Gen's robots are designed to carry plates of meat and seafood — bulgogi, Wagyu beef tongue, shrimp, ox intestine — on their surface, as they glide down a conveyor belt along tracks that run through the dining room.
They're programmed to deliver food directly to a cluster of tables set along the tracks. Servers pick up the plates from the conveyor belt and deliver them personally to tables that are a bit further away.
The chain launched a pilot program for the robots in June at its Montclair restaurant in San Bernardino County.
“We heard that this was a new feature and that they had them in SoCal, so we had to try it out,” said Andy Le, 21, of Fremont. Le and his friends, Lyka and Krysteena Lanuza, requested to be seated at a table that's served by a robot. “The automation is really nice,” Le said.
Management insists the robots aren't there to replace staff, but rather, to help “take a little burden off their back.”
“You're still ordering with the servers. We're not getting rid of servers,” said David Ghim, vice president of operations, “but we're using the robots as a tool to allow the servers to spend more time in sections so that they don't have to constantly be leaving the section, so that they can spend more time talking to customers.
“A robot doesn't have a sense of humor,” he added. “A robot cannot smile at you. That emotional connection that you can make with a human server, that's something that you can't replace.”
“You’re still ordering with the servers. We’re not getting rid of servers, but we’re using the robots as a tool to allow the servers to spend more time in sections so that they don’t have to constantly be leaving the section.” — David Ghim, vice president of operations