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 founder, Ylan Richard, saving the restaurant on real estate costs. That allows Cala to serve meals at lower prices and judging by the restaurant's ratings online, customers are more than happy with the results.

The restaurant still has staff serving customers, so it’s not a wholly automated operation. But more restaurant automation could be coming down the pike.

The technology is exciting, and in Cala’s case, the results seem to be good. But how would you feel about your dinner being made by a robot rather than a person? How different would your local high street look without chefs or bar staff? Would you welcome the change?

Looking forward to the discussion,

Azeem

P.S. 😍 Thanks for all the fantastic reviews of EXPONENTIAL / THE EXPONENTIAL AGE on Amazon. If you haven’t had a chance to pop a ☺️ glowing review there or on Goodreads or wherever you bought the book, would you take a second to do so? It really helps other people find the book.