Diners watched, bemused, as Plato approached their table.
The three-and-a-half-foot-tall robot spun and paused, presenting them with their lunch.
Nobody moved, unsure of what would come next, until a person in cowboy boots reached out and took his hamburger before passing one other plate to his companions.
Then Plato rolled away, back to The Cazadero’s kitchen.
“How was the experience?” a neighboring customer asked the group, leaning over his chair.
“Phenomenal,” one woman answered, still looking somewhat confused.
But Plato, United Robotics Group’s hospitality-oriented “cobiot,” hasn’t won over everyone within the timber town of Estacada, Oregon, highlighting the divide between businesses struggling to remain afloat and a customer base skeptical of change.
“I had no clue that individuals would literally not want to return to the restaurant because I had a robot,” Cazadero owner Sherry Andrus told Fox News.
Andrus bought The Cazadero in 2018.
Since then, Oregon’s minimum wage has increased by nearly 4 dollars to $14.20 per hour.
Food prices skyrocketed.
And finding servers willing to commute to the small town roughly 45 minutes outside of Portland is so difficult that Andrus requests potential employees Google the address before applying.
“You have already got a small pool to work from,” she said. “That we’re out in a rural area makes it even harder.”
So Andrus flew to the Bar & Restaurant Expo in Las Vegas in March with the fundamental purpose of exploring whether robots could tackle a few of the burden.
She got here home leasing Plato.
“I like robots and what they will do,” she said with a large smile. “I feel they’re form of cute and form of fun.”
She posted on the business Facebook page and area people groups, excited to introduce Plato.
But a whole bunch of indignant comments poured in.
“I won’t ever go there again,” “NO THANK YOU,” “Do away with this we [live] in a small a–– town why in earth!?”
Some community members defended Andrus.
“Y’all are insane,” one woman wrote. “They’ve been hiring for months and everybody’s been complaining in regards to the wait time here… Stop your commenting and go apply for the job if you happen to’re so upset about it.”
The administrator of 1 community page needed to shut down comments because they got so mean, Andrus said.
“What was so frustrating is the misunderstanding that a AI is replacing people’s jobs,” she said. “The server positions, the bartender positions are still there. That is only a tool to assist them do their job higher and be more efficient for the guests.”
In person, the response has been friendlier. Often.
On a blisteringly hot July afternoon, a single worker manned the bar and rushed to get plates to tables because the lunch rush began.
Her only reprieve was Plato, programmed to take plates of food from the kitchen to their destination for faster service when the restaurant is understaffed.
One man who in his 20s told the server in no uncertain terms that he didn’t desire a robot serving his family.
That’s positive by Andrus, who said customers can absolutely request a “100% human” experience.
But several of the bar’s regulars love Plato.
“I say ‘Hi’ to him each time he comes by,” Roy, a Vietnam-era veteran, told Fox News.
He added with a smile, “I do know he can’t answer, but Mama told me to be polite.”
Garrett said that when he left his job with a producing firm, “they were replacing individuals with robots all over the place.”
“That’s just modern times,” he said, adding that it’s fun to see customers interact with Plato. “The little kids love him.”
The Cazadero is one in every of about two dozen locations to deploy Plato to date.
Small businesses have been early adopters of the cobiot, as United Robotics Group calls it.
“They’ve a staffing issue where possibly there’s just one or two people working on the time, and that is gonna help them get food out somewhat bit quicker,” Greg McEntyre of URG told Fox News.
Plato’s shiny white exterior and cartoonish face stand in stark contrast with the Western-themed steakhouse.
And with about 5,000 residents, Estacada is the smallest town to welcome the bionic bus boy.
The one end result Andrus said broke her heart was seeing suggestions go down after Plato’s introduction.
“Some servers have chosen not to make use of him for that, because that is their livelihood, and so they depend on those suggestions, and so they still provide the great customer support,” she said.
Whether rural communities are ready for recent technology or not, Andrus predicts that AI will likely be a key a part of the restaurant industry going forward.
“We like being our little rural community, and so they don’t wish to see recent technology coming in,” she said. “That being said, we’re growing. We’ve doubled in size, and the people moving listed here are moving from the town.”
She added, “As much as we would hate to say, we’re changing our dynamic and our demographic, and you’ll be able to’t please everybody. I have the desire to make everybody completely happy, but we definitely are a small town.”
