Cassandra Ballard/Post Independent
We’re all starting to get a little worried that robots are going to take all of our jobs.
What many of us didn’t expect is that bots can actually bring some much-needed relief to employees.
That’s at least the intention of Manik Sakia, owner of Nepal Restaurant and Everest Nepal in Glenwood Springs.
Last week, Sakia introduced two new robotic employees to each of his restaurants.
Cassandra Ballard/Post Independent
“Now we are happy, the employees are happy and the robots are happy,” Sakia said with a laugh.
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About five years ago, Sakiya said he saw a video of a robot serving in Japan and always wanted to bring one into his restaurant. After the pandemic, his business became busier, but he began having trouble finding a full-service staff.
He decides to take the leap and finally buy some robots.
Sakia wanted to bring something new and interesting to the area and have something that would also make his business run more smoothly.
Even though he calls his servers bots, he still has a staff that takes care of his customers.
He said the robots can’t interpret the heat level of seasoning, or ask if guests are enjoying their meal. What they can do is get fresh hot food to the table so the servers can spend more time with their guests.
The robot will go to the kitchen and the chef will put the food in the tray and tell the robot which table to take it to.
Cassandra Ballard/Post Independent
People can take their meals from the tray or have their server take it, then press a button to say they’re done and the robot goes to the next table.
One of the robots working in Everest Nepal is named Bella. She is polite and has a couple of sentences to say when she is at the table. Guests can even pet her, but she becomes cranky after a short while and will ask not to be touched anymore.
Sakya’s main goal is to make everyone around him happy. He said that if people are happy, they live longer, wrinkle less, and get sick less often.
He wants a good quality of life for all the people around him.
There’s already been so much success with the bots at both locations that he wants to get more restaurants to consider acquiring them, and he’s even mentioned his desire to become a distributor in the future.
Cassandra Ballard/Post Independent
For now, he seems happy to be the only restaurateur who owns them because he still gets pleasure from how happy they make his customers.
Kathy and Brad Faxon were dining in Everest Nepal before heading home to Breckenridge and said they had never seen anything like it around the Western Slope.
“Great food and Bella,” said Brad. “The future is here in Glenwood Springs.”