Hello, robo-kitty!
A cat-eared robot will roll out food orders at a Japanese restaurant within the Big Apple – the newest step in a charm offensive by restaurateurs trying to automate the dining experience, Side Dish has learned.
The waiter-on-wheels is known as BellaBot – a waist-high, feline-faced machine that may deliver food and drinks, and ferry back dirty dishes.
The bots, which cost between $12,000 and $15,000, have been mobilized at restaurants from Florida to Michigan.
Garry Kanfer, head of Kissaki Hospitality Group, decided to turn to the pricey gimmick as an entertainment draw at his soon-to-open Kamasu outpost in FiDi.
“I’ve seen them and browse about them. This might be a trial,” Kanfer told Side Dish.
What BellaBot can’t do is take orders or interact with customers – thus preserving job security at his 2,500 square-foot restaurant at 111 John St., which opens next month.
The eatery can have 70 seats and offer open-faced temaki hand rolls with an a la carte menu of maki, specialty futomaki and donburi.
“You continue to need the waiter to be there and place food at people’s tables,” said Kanfer, whose other Kamasu locations are at The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards and at Time Out Market in Dumbo.
This isn’t the primary time Kanfer has added robots to his restaurants.
At Kissaki, a fine-dining concept he launched throughout the pandemic, and at his other Kamasu locations, Kanfer uses around 4 sushi robot machines to make rice for sushi rolls.
“I had a whole lot of pushback. Even our management was nervous,” said Kanfer, whose Kissaki outposts are positioned within the Hamptons and Manhasset, Long Island.
“But robots are a superb fit for fast casual — and humans are still there to interact with customers.”
The incorporation of robotic helpers boomed throughout the pandemic because the lack of human contact became desirable.
The Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, for instance, used a heated locker paying homage to the old-school automats for contact-free pick-up.
The threat that robots will take away jobs has turn out to be a growing concern within the restaurant industry, said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the Latest York City Hospitality Alliance.
“Service individuals are already being eliminated by touch screens when it comes to ordering,” Rigie said. “We’ll proceed to see robot dim sum carts and robots mixing cocktails in Las Vegas, but restaurants are a labor intensive business and the main target is on service and hospitality. No robot will ever replace that.”
We hear…that friends and rivals within the hospitality industry got here together on Nov. 1 to raise $1.1 million for United Hatzalah Emergency Relief Fund at Al Coro. About 600 people attended the event organized by Noath Tepperberg, of Tao Group Hospitality, Jason Pomeranc, of Sixty Hotels, and Cobi Levy, of Prince Street Hospitality. Actor/comedian Modi was MC, while Sam Ronson and Jesse Marco were DJs. Lior Raz, the Israeli actor and co-star of “Fauda,” and Brett Gelman, of “Stranger Things,” contributed to the singing of each the Israeli and American national anthems. “It was all pretty spontaneous,” Tepperburg said. “All of us had family and friends who were impacted. It struck a nerve and felt right to do something quickly and immediately.” The fundraiser was also a way to bring a hurting community together, Pomeranc added. “The hospitality industry does a lot to entertain and provides energy to Latest York City, creating an eclectic culture with people of various backgrounds. That’s what makes Latest York great,” Pomeranc said. One other $1 million was raised by the restaurateurs at an analogous event held at Lavo in Los Angeles on Nov. 20.
We hear…that Citymeals on Wheels raised $1.5 million at its thirty sixth annual power lunch on the Plaza Hotel featuring Chef Daniel Boulud, Kathleen Turner, Deborah Roberts, Barbara Bush and Christian Siriano. That’s enough to deliver greater than 150,000 meals to older Latest Yorkers in need, said Citymeals CEO Beth Shapiro.