Can it save the salaries of 1.5 head chefs? Under the new social security regulations, has the cooking robot become the optimal solution for catering employment?

Are cooking robots really that good?

“Recruiting part-time temporary workers” “Rehiring retired workers”... As the Supreme People's Court's regulation that “agreements of restaurants not paying social insurance are all invalid” is about to take effect, the catering industry has launched a discussion on the optimal solution for employment.

Amid the intense discussion, a post about transforming a robot into a “Chinese cuisine chef” has sparked a lot of interactions among netizens. Many netizens quipped, “Well, now robots don't need social insurance, and restaurant owners don't have to worry anymore.” Even some employees of catering brands shared their experiences, saying, “One person can operate three machines at the same time, and meals can be served quickly without multiple chefs.”...

In fact, the application of cooking robots in the catering industry has a long history. A number of chain restaurants have even opened hundreds of stores with the help of cooking robots.

For example, the Hunan-style topped rice brand “Bawan”. According to Hongcan Net, its operation model with all stores equipped with cooking robots has enabled it to open over 500 stores across the country. According to its official website, all the cooking machines in Bawan's stores are self-developed and have been upgraded to the third generation.

Bawan is not the only one making great efforts in deploying cooking robots. Xiaocaiyuan, a Huizhou cuisine brand listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year, actually started using cooking robots in some of its stores as early as 2023. According to the prospectus released by Xiaocaiyuan before its listing, part of the funds raised from the listing will be used to purchase 3,000 cooking robots, and the unit price per cooking robot is 50,000 yuan, with an estimated cost of 150 million yuan. Based on Xiaocaiyuan's current number of more than 600 stores, the purchase of 3,000 cooking robots means that on average, each store will be equipped with about five cooking robots.

More and more chain catering enterprises are seeking solutions with cooking robots. Hongcan Net's inventory shows that the back kitchens of well-known fast-food chains such as Nonggengji, Jindingxuan, Micun Bibimbap, Dami Xiansheng, Xiangcunji, and Nanchengxiang have also started using cooking robots in the past two years to cook highly standardized dishes such as Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, and Kung Pao Chicken.

Are cooking robots really that good? Hongcan Net has observed that many enterprises have calculated the employment cost after using cooking robots.

Take Xunxiangdidai, an Anhui Hunan cuisine brand, as an example. In its full-service restaurants, by combining “intelligent equipment + traditional stoves”, two intelligent cooking robots undertake nearly 50% of the cooking work, and only one person is needed to complete it, saving 1.5 cooking chefs in the back kitchen.

In addition, according to Xin Hunan's report, the use of cooking robots has significantly reduced labor costs, with a direct reduction of up to 60%. Traditionally, a back kitchen usually requires two chefs with a total monthly salary of about 18,000 yuan, while the robot solution allows “one person to operate five to six devices”, greatly reducing labor expenses.

In response to the popularity of cooking robots in catering enterprises, many netizens have also raised questions: “Will real chefs lose their jobs with robots cooking?” “Will robots replace real chefs?”...

The shortage of young chefs will only become more obvious, and it is inevitable for machines to replace humans. However, Hongcan Net believes that completely replacing real chefs with cooking robots to avoid social insurance pressure is not the optimal solution for catering employment.

Even with the support of intelligent cooking systems, cooking robots that don't need social insurance can efficiently complete standardized operations such as food preparation and stir-frying. However, customers increasingly demand continuously innovative dishes and real emotional communication, which require real chefs to achieve. Therefore, the positioning of cooking robots is not to replace chefs but to develop towards the trend of “human-machine collaboration”. Through this collaborative model, not only can the temperature be precisely controlled and the seasoning be quantified to improve the standardization of dishes, but also diverse catering needs can be met through personalized customization.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Hongcan Net”. Author: Gui Xiang, Editor: Li Tang. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.