The newest employee at the Eat District in Boca Raton, Florida, is really turning heads.
She’s all metal and likes to be called Bella.
Bella is a robot.
“All the reaction has been great,” said Louis Grayson, the owner of the Eat District. “Everybody’s loved it.”
Monday night, Bella served a table of four at the restaurant.
They all had their phones out, recording Bella’s every move.
“I thought that was really cool how the robot served the food,” said Kai Opena, who was visiting from Illinois.
“It definitely was cool to see a robot efficiently deliver it to our table,” said Aris Carrington of Boca Raton.
Grayson said it’s been the same reaction at another restaurant he owns, the Sea in Delray Beach, where two Bellas roam the floor.
Getting Bella to work is pretty simple.
You just place the food on her trays, tell her which table to go to, and watch her work.
But Grayson said Bella is more than just a sideshow attraction.
He believes she’s the answer to a lot of pandemic problems, like finding people to work.
“Definitely the labor shortage,” he said. “It’s helped us with having an extra helping hand inside the restaurant.”Robots hit the streets as demand for food delivery grows
Grayson said Bella is also efficient and provides contactless delivery of the food.
“With so many things going on every single day and mental health being such a big concern, this really does play a big key in helping that stressfulness out,” he said.
Bella’s personality also helps with the stress of the job.
Mostly, she’s kind and sweet.
But touch her the wrong way, and the robot will rebel, telling you to “stop touching my ears” and “you’re annoying.”
Whatever her mood, it never affects her work ethic.
Grayson has three robots in his restaurants and is considering buying more.
He’s also heard the concerns about robots replacing humans or taking people’s jobs.
He doesn’t think that’s a problem here, saying every one of his restaurants is still looking for employees.
“We’re hiring for every position!” he said with a laugh.
He said Bella will never replace humans, but she’s pretty good at helping out. Restaurants anxious as omicron, high food costs take toll
Meanwhile:
Remote controls for TVs, cable boxes, and media players get handled all the time, often with fingers and mitts that aren’t exactly sparkling clean. While it’s always a good idea to keep them clean, over the past year the pandemic has reminded us it’s also smart to occasionally give those devices a more thorough, disinfecting cleaning.
Last year, in a webcast produced by the Society for Human Resource Management, Jay C. Butler, M.D., deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended routine environmental cleaning of any “high-touch” surfaces—including, yes, remote controls—with bleach or alcohol-based wipes. The CDC now says that surfaces aren’t thought to be a common source of coronavirus infections, but they may still occasionally transmit the virus—and commonly touched surfaces can spread cold or flu viruses.
Some viruses may survive on surfaces like those for hours or even days. But the good news is that various products and solutions can be used to kill viruses like this one.
So, who is in charge of cleaning Bella? I understand that restaurants are having staffing problems. However, for the money spent on Bella they could have hired servers at a more than a decent rate of pay with outstanding benefits. Right? Right.
How much does Bella cost? I could not find this data. I did find data on Servi which says Servi costs $999 a month or about $12,000 a year compared to $24,000 for a human server per The Hill.
The Hill does not mention; software updates, maintenance costs, cleaning costs, insurance liability costs, etc… not to mention mechanical malfunctions… The only upside I see to Bella is she can’t be sexually harassed. I hear that this is a real issue in the hospitality industry…
So, there is the silver lining, right? Bella won’t file a #MeToo UNTIL she becomes self-aware that is…
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