Recently, Don Tequila’s Amherst and Elyria locations introduced a unique new employee: one with wheels and a digital face.
BellaBot, a server robot developed by ToDo Robotics, delivers chips, salsa, silverware and entrees from the kitchen to restaurant tables. The robotic employee has drawn attention to the local chain, and customers have been flocking to the restaurants to see the creation.
“It’s something new for the customers,” says Tony Ziroli, the manager of Don Tequila’s Amherst location at 2269 Kresge Drive. “Just to give everybody something different. We knew nobody around here had it. It’s just entertaining the customers.”
Other local restaurants have caught on to the robot server trend, including RollHouse in Solon, which also hosts a BellaBot.
So what’s it like to be served by a robot?
Right now, not all that different from the usual experience. Having grown up in Amherst, I’m no stranger to Don Tequila; the restaurant was a favorite for family dinners for years. I wanted to see how this strange new face would change the dining-out format.
But on most levels, it was the same. On a slow weekday lunch hour, I sat at a booth near a window, and asked a server if the cat robot was working.
He smiled. “Yeah. We’ll send some chips and salsa over.”
A few minutes later, BellaBot appeared, turning around the corner near the kitchen, googly eyes and smiling cat face glowing on a front black screen, until it reached our booth. There, it turned to the side, revealing the chips, salsa and bowls for our table. Once we tapped the screen to signal that we’d taken our food, the robot turned away and rolled back to the kitchen, playing a song while “DON TEQUILA” scrolled across its back screen.
As for our lunch order, that was still taken and delivered by a server (likely since our plates were hot).
BellaBot was purchased for the gimmick, and not to replace any jobs, says Ziroli. Though the robot does assist table runners with carrying plates, the cat occasionally is more of a hindrance to the crew during the restaurant’s busier hours.
“The last time someone wrote a story was the Mourning Journal, and a bunch of people were commenting online — ‘They’re taking jobs away from people’ — but that’s not the case,” Ziroli says. “It’s just to help the guys take the food out more efficiently. The guys stage plates up their arm, and we’re just trying to make life a little easier for the food runners. To be honest with you, when it’s really busy, it doesn’t help them much. It’s kind of more in the way than it’s helping.”
That being said, BellaBot has been a hit with customers, especially kids, who are eager to see the shiny new attraction.
“Most everybody likes them. People have been taking videos of it and putting it all over Facebook,” Ziroli says, “so it’s been really good for us.”
It’s been so good for Don Tequila’s West Side locations that the chain plans on introducing the BellaBot to its Mentor and Eastlake locations on May 30.
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