Find a Business Case
Automating Waiters in the Restaurant Industry
By: Ron Miller
The problem
Waiters are experiencing a shortage as it is an undesirable position were the hours can be difficult without guaranteed compensation.
Worker fatigue is common in this industry and it often leads to errors which then result in unsatisfied customers
Along with being difficult to find in todays world waiters are also costly for restaurants to employ as the average yearly compensation for a waiter in Washington D.C. is $23,896
IT Concept and Solution
Automated robotic waiters would help to solve all these problems in the restaurant industry.
It would help to cut costs, prevent fatigue and overall improve customer satisfaction in a very simple yet effective way
The IT aspect
Waiter robots have been in production for about 5 years now but have yet to be widely adopted
They can download the layout of the restaurant, so they are able traverse it safely
They can greet customers and take their orders through their mobile menu kiosk
Are also able to carry the ordered meals and drinks out to the tables
Have an upfront cost of $7,700 per unit and 100$ power and upkeep cost monthly
Costs of Human Waiters (staff of 5)
Yearly salary of fulltime workers- ($119,480)/23896$ per
Cost of uniforms for workers- ($100)/20$per
Cost of health insurance for workers- ($5655)
Total yearly cost- ($125,235)
Costs of Automated Waiter Robots (5)
Up front cost-($38,500)/7,700$per
Yearly operating and upkeep costs-($6,000)/1200$per
Total yearly costs-($44,500)/$8900per
Amount saved
The total amount a restraunt will save by replacing 5 waiters with robots is $80,735
Or $20,671 per worker
Payback time
The company will receive its money back on its investment in as little as 5 months as that is the amount of time it will take a traditional workers salary and costs to exceed the upfront costs of a robot.
Upfront costs may be significant, but this is an exceptional payback time.
Qualitative benefits
Robotic automation of waiters will help to combat worker fatigue as robots will not tire and can work 10 hours straight before needing to be recharged
The need for a tip is also removed so customers will be saving money on their purchase, likely helping to improve their satisfaction.
Lastly the chance of human error is also removed as the customers can now put their order directly into the robot through the kiosk built into it.
Questions?