Visiting San Francisco or are you a resident here? In any case, you better head out to ‘Eatsa’ restaurant that has merged technology with your eating-out experience. The restaurant has incorporated iPads that allow the customers to place their orders and once the mean is ready, it appears via small glass compartment. There are still people working behind the scenes, however, customers no longer interact with them.
Concierges were present during the opening night last month to help customers in placing their orders, however, restaurant has transitioned to a fully automated one now and no staff can be seen. Customers have started calling it the ‘robot restaurant’.
It is located in Financial District and is proving to be a success. Co-founder Tim Young says, “We are producing food at an incredible rate. And we’re creating a new kind of fast food experience. What we’ve designed creates a sense of mystery, creates a sense of intrigue.” According to the team behind Eatsa, it provides an “individualized, cashless, meat-less experience. Customers swipe their credit cards at one of nine iPad kiosks to start customising a bowl full of quinoa,” TIME reports. “Patrons can add options like chimichurri sauce, orange miso sauce, grilled corn, pickled onions, roasted beets or parsnip strips, among heaps of other ingredients. It’s still plenty cheap (starting at around $7 a bowl).’
When it comes to the receiving of order, the customers have to shuffle over to a particular wall that features seven windowed apartments. These windows are transparent touchscreens that need to be tapped twice to get your order. Seven human employees work behind the wall that are directed by the software and who are capable of preparing bowls of quinoa in record time.
Young further explained, “Every person that has a role has an iPad that manages their job. Quite frankly, people can’t manage that kind of queue. They can’t understand that they have this kind of volume, here’s what the timing will look like.”
Young and his partner in crime, Scott Drummond, are hoping to open up more chains of Eatsa restaurants in future. In fact, one outlet is all set to open up in Los Angeles in the coming next two months. They also have plans for opening one another in San Francisco while an app is being worked upon to increase the ordering speed further.
