💬 Friday thread: My compliments to the ... robot?

Thousands of workers have left the hospitality sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, and a whole load of them aren’t coming back. Restaurants are struggling to fill vacancies, with a combination of poor pay, harsh conditions and lingering fears over the virus making work in the sector an unappetising prospect.

Here’s a paradox: the solution to staff shortages might not be more workers. It might be fewer. I’ll leave it to Sifted’s Freya Pratty to explain:

In the middle of the French lockdown in October 2020, a new restaurant launched on Deliveroo and UberEats in Paris: Cala.

Its pasta dishes started at €8 each, causing some customers to wonder about the high quality to price ratio — particularly compared to some other Parisian outlets.

It wasn’t until the lockdown ended and Cala customers could visit the restaurant in person that the reason became clear. Instead of a team of chefs, the food is cooked and assembled by a robot.

The compact robot can cook 1,200 meals an hour, says Cala's found…