Melbourne’s Thai food restaurant employs robot servers to tackle Australian staff shortages

With staff shortages across the country, a handful of restaurants are turning to more futuristic methods to cover busy shifts.

A Thai restaurant in Melbourne has just hired a new waiter called Bella – with a cyber twist.

Bella works non-stop every day and costs the restaurant just $48 to stay on the books.

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Well, at least that’s what it costs the owner to run Bella.

Bellabot is the latest in a line of robotic workers, taking over restaurants amid Victoria’s labor shortage.

As Melbourne emerged from its latest COVID-19 lockdown, Dodee Paidang Thai Bar and Cafe owner Boon Low signed up for the latest robotic technology to help run his restaurant.

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Mr. Low said A topical matterdue to the lack of international students entering the country, it was forced to think outside the box when it came to personnel.

“We used to operate from lunch to dinner seven days a week, and we’re finding it’s getting harder and harder, not only to find people but also to make it worthwhile,” a- he declared.

“Bella has been working with us for three weeks, and we also have Gigi (another robot).”

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Bellabot is the best you can buy when it comes to robots.

For a two-year lease, it will cost restaurants just under $48 a day, but at the end of the lease, they will be able to keep their new employees on permanently.

Tim Piper of the Australian Industry Group said the easiest solution to the worker drought is to open up and let backpackers and international students return.

“We need to address this by bringing backpackers in, we need to bring international students back and we need to get locals back to work. Those are the three areas we need to reintroduce and encourage,” Mr Piper said.

Mr. Piper said that while everything is fun right now, the idea of ​​robot servers might not stick around forever.

“It’ll be a fun thing for a while, but you really want that personal touch, don’t you?” he said.