Fully automated fried rice, ramen restaurants thwart staff shortage

Fully automated fried rice, ramen restaurants thwart staff shortage

2024-02-05

Since the pandemic, many restaurants have had trouble hiring. One fried rice shop in Taichung’s Yizhong shopping district is looking to get around the problem by employing a robotic chef. A person only needs to prepare the ingredients, and three minutes later, the machine will serve up a steaming plate of rice. Another spot at the Donghai shopping district allows customers to make themselves instant noodles, and even pay the bill on their own.

Dump in the rice and ingredients, and watch as it cooks quickly over high heat. But this fried rice isn’t made by a chef. It’s entirely automated.

Customer
It tastes all right. It’s not too different from what I’d normally get.

In the Yizhong shopping district, this old fried rice restaurant is trying out a new technology. An employee just needs to prepare the ingredients and the machine will add them itself when ready. Three short minutes later, the order is done.

Hung Hsiu-hao
Owner
Each dish can be made with consistency. This is to say that anyone can do it. It makes everyone’s job easier.

The machine costs NT$200,000, while hiring a chef would cost about NT$50,000 a month. This means the owner can break even in just four months. Now there are four of them that can all run at the same time.

Another restaurant in the Donghai shopping district is not only automated, but most of the time, there’s no one there at all.

First order what you want, then get a number and grab a packet of noodles and addons yourself. Press the button on the machine, and in five minutes, a broiling bowl of noodles is ready to eat.

Customer
It’s new. My first time eating at a place without any staff.

Customer
Here you can add your own kimchi, rice cakes, that sort of thing. It’s kind of Korean-style.

As restaurants have trouble hiring, more are turning toward automation. It’s also become a gimmick to drive traffic among the competitive school crowds.

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緩解缺工! 炒飯店引進炒飯機器人.無人泡麵店搶商機

2024-02-05

疫情過後，不少餐飲業面臨缺工，台中一中商圈，有老牌炒飯店，引進炒飯機器人，只需要人工先調好配料比例，由機器自動烹飪，三分鐘就能炒出一盤香噴噴的炒飯。另外，東海商圈，則有無人泡麵店，從點餐、結帳到煮麵，通通由民眾自己按機台操作。

倒入白飯和配料，大火快炒，這份炒飯不是由師傅掌廚，而是一台全自動機器在料理。

[[民眾]]
“口味覺得還行欸，跟我一般吃的沒有太大的差異。”

一中商圈內，這家老牌炒飯店，引進新科技，只需要人工備好料，過程中何時下料，都由機器自動運作，短短3分鐘就能美味出爐。

[[機器炒飯店長洪脩浩]]
“包括餐點的穩定度都可以做出一致性，等於說人人都可以上手啦，作業上更減緩大家的負擔。”

這台炒飯機器，要價20萬，假設一個炒飯師傅月薪5萬，只要4個月就能回本打平，而且放眼望去，檯面上一次4台，還能同時運作。

另外位在東海商圈，也有麵店不只機器化，整間店大部分時間甚至沒有店員。

選擇商品，結帳領完號碼單，接著拿取泡麵、夾滿配料，再按下機器按鈕，5分鐘後，滾燙燙的現煮泡麵上桌，每個步驟自己來。

[[民眾]]
“很新奇，第一次在這種沒有人的店裡面吃東西。”

[[民眾]]
“來到這邊可以有自己加泡菜、年糕之類的，比較韓式一點。”

餐飲業面臨缺工，不少業者走向自動化，靠機器填補人力，也成為學區內拚商機另類噱頭。

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