Sushi Robots Replace Employees

Kura, a sushi chain in Japan, has found a way to efficiently run their restaurant and make a profit in Japan’s highly completive economy; with robots.

Instead of having traditional sushi chefs, they have been replaced by robots that quickly make sushi and place them on conveyer belts that bring them to customers. And instead of having restaurant managers, Kura uses three control centers that monitor Kura’s 262 restaurants with live feed monitors. These allow them to monitor anything from a shortage in salmon rolls to the gaps in between sushi plates.

It is this efficiency that has allowed Kura to stay running even through others have struggled in Japan’s stagnant economy. In fact, Kura has resisted the economic slump with profits that rose 20 percent from last year, to 2.8 billion yen.

Naturally, the rest of the store is automated as well. Diners interact with touch screens to order their meals which are quickly delivered to them via conveyer belts. The sushi robot forms rice morsels which are topped with fish shipped from a central plant. After they are finished, diners put there finished plates in table-side slot where they’re quickly scanned to their bill. The dishes are then automatically cleaned and sent back to kitchen for use again. The bar codes on the bottom of plates also allow the restaurant to keep track of how long sushi has been circulating for too long and if so is quickly taken of the line by robotic arm.

The connectedness of everything allows the order prioritization as well. The touch screens at the table are connected with a computer screen that greets customers at the entrance as well a main system computer. It calculates how heavy the traffic as and sends sushi to those who have been sitting and are hungry faster than those who have slowed down and are less of a priority.

An added bonus for diners is that if they put 5 plates into the slot, they have a chance to win a slot machine kind of prize.

“I usually eat 8 or 9 plates by myself, but since springing for just one or two more plates gives me a go at the slot game, I'd usually end up doing it. That’s just a buck or two from me, but multiply that across tens of thousands of customers, and that probably is a significant bump in revenue.”

It costs about 10 million yen ($120,000) to install the automated system into their restaurants says company spokesman, Takeshi Hattori. However the investment pays off in labor cost savings. “In all, just six servers and a minimal kitchen staff can service a restaurant seating 196 people.”

The automated system has also allowed completive prices with a plate of sushi for only 100 yen ($1.22)

“It’s such a bargain at 100 yen. A real sushi restaurant? I hardly go anymore.”

[Via Gizmodo]