The adoption of robotics and automation tools in the hospitality sector is growing fast with robots programmed to perform a human-operated task. The shift towards the acceptance of robots in hotel kitchens with robot chefs as a part of the chefs team is a reality in some establishments. Robots are preferred by catering establishments as they reduce errors in food preparation and improve productivity; however, the initial investment for robots is high. Chefs do believe that humans could not be replaced by robots as the sensitivity of taste, and flavor may not be replicated by the robots even though standardization of recipes allows them to prepare distinctive food repeatedly. This study is about the customer's response to robots as chefs in various food establishments, and observation of robots in multi-cuisine establishments through secondary resources. The findings of the study will help hospitality chains to be better prepared for robot chefs and automation in the hotel kitchen.
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Staff shortage in hospitality has been stated in many parts of the world (Mathath and Fernando, 2015) followed by the impact of the pandemic which increased the interest of people in the area of robotics in the kitchen. Although robots were invented in 1920 (NPR, 2011) it was stated to be a thing of the future and not totally practical. With the passing of time, the intelligence of robots increased and they could be programmed so that they could perform human-operated tasks. Later in the 1980s robots initially were utilized in manufacturing before it was introduced in the service sector. The usage and adoption of robots in hospitality and tourism are found to be growing continuously in the last few years (Ivanov & Webster, 2019). Hospitality is mostly human-to-human interaction but it is slowly moving towards more human-to-robot interactions thereby challenging hospitality with a new service environment (Bowen & Morosan, 2018). Service robots intend to coexist with humans as they engage in relations for providing a better quality of life.
In hospitality services, personalization has an important role with the availability of personal service robot which provides a high level of social interaction and is the preferred option for many organisations (Murphy et al., 2017). In food preparations and serving the service robots can be effectively utilized for operations (Lukanova & Ilieva, 2019) with a new category of robots said to be catering robots. As per the McKinsey Global Institute Report in the future half of today’s working activity would be automated, and by 2055 about 73 percent of jobs in hospitality and food establishments will be replaced by robots (McKinsey Global Institute Report, 2017).
The use of robots in restaurants is rapidly being accepted as service staff or waiters but also as chefs and kitchen staff. Kitchen robots are devices that help to create several pre-programmed meals as per the information provided by the users and in some robots the users have to also put in the necessary ingredients inside the robot. Initially, in the hospitality sector, it was believed when robots were introduced that they will possibly replace the jobs in the restaurant sector (Robinson, 2017).
Service robots have evolved a lot from the past and companies are likely to invest in robots as it improves hospitality productivity and profits. In the field of robotics having a robotic chef is a challenge as a robot chef may have to prepare many dishes as per the need of commercial establishment. The kitchen environment being semi-structured also has computational challenges as accuracy in the usage of ingredients, usage of different equipment for the process, and various cooking methods lead to the complexity of the entire process.
The current society is open to technology and new advances. New robots are been designed and manufactured by both research institutions and companies to fulfill the technological gap and to meet the need of the market. The culinary industry is accepting innovative technologies and many of the repetitive tasks in the kitchen such as stirring pasta, flipping the burgers, and assembling pizzas are been taken over by robots. The current robots are assisted by sensors onboard, optical cameras, and advanced AI technology to do multitasking thereby performing multi actions and movements which hotel chefs do in real-time. Now different kitchen robots are available in the market depending on the requirement and level of assistance necessary in cooking. AI is now powered by a robotic kitchen to prepare and abolish human interaction with the cooking process.
The purpose of the study is to examine the customer’s views on the usage of robots in food service establishments particularly on the customer’s perception of the food prepared by the robot chefs in food establishments and just not serving food. The study is conducted through secondary data obtained from online reviews of customers from restaurant portals and other websites. Considering the demand perspective the study findings especially disclose the meaning the guest have about robots as chefs. The study findings will help businesses both managers of restaurants and the manufacturers of robots to understand the challenges and provide the customers with best dining experience.