Cyber chefs are not the life-saving straws for restaurant owners.
Recently, the popular food variety show "A Meal to Seal the God" has brought hundreds of chefs into a competitive showdown comparable to "Top Chef 101". While showcasing Chinese food culture, it also highlights the crucial role of chefs in restaurant kitchens.
"I'll cook fresh for your order, with the wok's essence in every dish." This is the slogan a restaurant owner put forward at the beginning of the variety show.
Source: Screenshot from "A Meal to Seal the God"
However, different from the chefs' insistence on "cooking fresh upon order" on camera, outside the camera, in takeout stalls, chain restaurants, hotels, community and university canteens on the streets, the number of chefs is decreasing, and in their place are "stir - frying robots" that are constantly in operation.
In a Chinese restaurant in Ningbo, in a 25 - square - meter kitchen, there are 5 stir - frying robots. There are no chefs, and only 10 kitchen staff are responsible for operating the machines.
According to the restaurant owner, the net profit margin of the single store has increased from 5% to 25%. Even leading Chinese restaurant chains like Laoxiangji and Xiaocaiyuan might have to look up to it.
According to Blue Whale News, this year, it has become a common sight for chain restaurant enterprises to queue up to visit stir - frying robot companies, seemingly pushing this efficiency - driven business to a new peak.
But in fact, stir - frying robots are not a new business. As early as 2016, or even earlier, some enterprises entered the stir - frying robot market, and restaurants began to use stir - frying robots.
As a nation with a rich food culture, Chinese cuisine always has new and exciting stories. Whether it's restaurant owners who can open thousands of stores or small chefs in street - side eateries, most have experienced the collective pain in this industry: a highly competitive market, hard - to - standardize flavors, and customers with both "down - grading" and "up - grading" demands.
From the perspective of technical efficiency, stir - frying robots can indeed bring psychological comfort to restaurant owners, but they are not the real lifesaver.
1. Cyber Chefs: A Crowded Arena
"Recently, we've really received a lot of inquiries from restaurant owners, and there are also many people visiting our factory in person."
Manager Chen, a salesperson from an original factory of intelligent kitchen equipment in Shunde, Guangdong, told "Silicon - based Research Lab" that their factory started making stir - frying robots in 2023. In the past two years, their cooperative customers have mainly been Chinese restaurants and schools in the Yangtze River Delta region. Recently, they have really felt a new wave of popularity. He and his colleagues are busy connecting with customers, creating groups, and arranging on - site inspections every day. The inquirers are anxious restaurant owners from all over the country.
However, what seems to be a "new trend" in the eyes of many restaurant owners is actually an "old business". Since 2016, various stir - frying robot companies have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and the people involved in this wave are quite diverse.
The first type can be called the "restaurant faction": that is, the "insiders" in the restaurant industry.
For example, Bawan Gaimafan directly developed its own stir - frying robots. While selling the franchise model, it can also sell the equipment. In 2021, Haidilao stated in its financial report that more than 70 of its stores were equipped with intelligent pot - dispensing machines.
Source: Bawan Gaimafan official website
The second type is the "kitchen appliance equipment faction", that is, brands that already have a layout in home appliances or kitchen appliances. There are also subdivisions within this category -
One is to make complete machines based on electrical and electronic control technology. For example, Tobang Co., Ltd., which started making stir - frying robot products while doing intelligent control machines, Utech Smart Kitchen under Utech Group, and Aican Group. The other is that home appliance/kitchen appliance brands directly enter the stir - frying robot market. A typical example is Tineco's "Shiwan Star Chef" under Ecovacs.
The third type is the "start - up faction". Most of these start - up companies focus on AI - enabled digital kitchen appliances. "Stir - frying robots" are a popular category among them, and they started their businesses around 2016 - 2021. For example, Buting Technology, Changshan Smart, and Xianglu Technology. The backgrounds of their founders are more diverse, including engineers, those from the Internet industry, and consultants.
The fourth type is the "cross - border faction": such as real estate companies and Internet giants. The stir - frying robot project "Kuhe" was established within Qutoutiao, and Country Garden also has Qianxi Catering Robot Group.
In addition to the currently unveiled "Qixian Xiaochu", JD.com opened its first X Future Restaurant in Tianjin as early as November 2018.
When "Silicon - based Research Lab" searched Aiqicha with the keyword "stir - frying robots", it was found that more than 40 enterprises have entered this market. But according to Manager Chen, the actual number is far more than a hundred, and many are concentrated in the South China kitchen appliance industrial belt.
It seems that although the stir - frying robot market looks lively, it is already crowded with eager players.
2. Stir - frying Robots: A Calculated Move by Restaurant Owners
The popularity of stir - frying robots lies in their ability to address the concerns of anxious restaurant owners.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to June 2025, the year - on - year growth rate of the national catering revenue decreased by 3.6 percentage points, and the year - on - year growth rate of the catering revenue of units above the designated size decreased by 2 percentage points.
In the face of the takeout war, the China Cuisine Association directly pointed out that in the first half of the year, the catering industry showed a trend of "slowing revenue growth, declining profits, and intensified competition", and the industry is facing severe challenges.
Image Source: © China Cuisine Association
Stir - frying robot manufacturers understand the needs of restaurant owners well. What they do is to help them save money.
Manager Chen and most industry players have an astonishing consensus on the "money - saving account": "Spend more than a hundred thousand yuan to buy two machines, and you can reduce the number of chefs by two or three. You can get your investment back in about 6 - 7 months."
Yang Jiancheng, the chairman of Xianglu Technology, which has recently attracted attention due to JD.com's investment, also mentioned similar data. The efficiency of one kitchen worker with two stir - frying robots is equivalent to that of three head chefs with three stoves, and it takes about 6 months to recoup the cost of purchasing one machine.
In the eyes of stir - frying robot players, what stir - frying robots can help restaurant owners solve are actually the problems of "people, goods, and space" in the kitchen.
In terms of people, it reduces labor costs. A small family - run restaurant usually has 2 - 3 kitchen staff, and medium - to - large - sized restaurants generally have 2 - 3 chefs. The number of kitchen staff varies according to the store area. Generally, a single - store with an area of 100 square meters needs at least 10 kitchen staff.
According to previous media reports, a Chinese restaurant using stir - frying robots with an area of 100 - 300 square meters only has 5 - 6 kitchen staff, which indeed reduces labor costs to a certain extent.
Manager Chen also mentioned that robots can reduce the occupational risks of chefs in dangerous work such as high - temperature stir - frying, and chefs can focus on recipe innovation.
In terms of goods, by standardizing recipes and the food - making process, it improves the food - serving efficiency and ensures the consistency of flavors. Stir - frying robot companies usually cooperate with catering enterprises and chefs to provide basic and customized electronic recipes. With the help of the manufacturers' algorithm capabilities and cooking data models, in an ideal state, the operator only needs to pour the ingredients and serve the dishes as prompted.
In terms of space, with more machines and fewer people, the kitchen area can be reduced, and the front hall can accommodate more diners, further improving the turnover rate and optimizing the single - store profit model.
In recent years, more and more Chinese restaurant brands, including Laoxiangji, Nanchengxiang, Damixiansheng under the Country Base Group, and Xiaocaiyuan, have announced the introduction of stir - frying robots in their stores. These efficiency - oriented measures are essentially related to the digital transformation of restaurant owners.
In recent years, during the period of low - consumer demand, restaurant owners have come up with various strategies to save their businesses.
In addition to building their own supply chains and central kitchens to reduce costs, they also "save wherever possible" in terms of dishes.
The first approach is the "dish - streamlining method". For example, Xiaocaiyuan has reduced the number of dishes in its stores to 45 - 50, and the thinner menu means a reduction in SKUs.
The second approach is the "budget - friendly canteen route", increasing investment in community restaurants and creating industrialized canteens.
For example, Country Base and Xiaocaiyuan have both entered the community canteen business. In essence, it is a low - cost group - meal route with large quantities. The profit is averaged out through scale, and intelligent equipment like stir - frying robots is exactly the direct application scenario for group meals.
The third approach is to invest in the "digital route". From the front - end stores to the business center, from food production, service to food safety and hygiene, standard SOPs are established through digitalization, and at the same time, core data assets such as members and dishes are accumulated.
Stir - frying robots not only meet the needs of restaurant owners but also have a much lower entry threshold compared to the extremely difficult and high - profile organizational digital transformation.
Therefore, looking back at the popularity of stir - frying robots, it is not just the promotion of manufacturers. It seems more like a calculated move by Chinese restaurant owners to become "the next McDonald's".
3. The "Impossible Triangle" of Flavor, Efficiency, and Soul
Those who are optimistic about stir - frying robots are actually the same group of people who are looking forward to the standardization of Chinese cuisine.
Chinese cuisine is highly decentralized, regional, and has a low chain - store rate. Once upon a time, Haidilao carried the investors' ambition of "McDonaldizing Chinese cuisine". Later, the prospectuses and financial reports of Laoxiangji and Xiaocaiyuan also mentioned the standardization of Chinese cuisine without exception.
Guo Qing (Lao K), the former senior vice - president of Meituan and the old partner of Wang Huiwen of Meituan, is also the co - founder of Xianglu.
In an interview in 2023, he predicted: "We hope that more players will join this market to jointly promote the standardization of Chinese cuisine and create a 'McDonald's' of Chinese cuisine. This process won't be too far away."
From the underlying logic, as an important part of Chinese cuisine standardization, stir - frying robots will undoubtedly become more and more intelligent.
On the one hand, with the development of large - model technology, cooking models will become smarter. With the development of reasoning ability and multi - modal ability, and with the help of technologies such as AI visual recognition, the data collected at the front - end will also become more and more accurate.
On the other hand, in terms of hardware, most stir - frying robots are designed with a modular concept. With China's mature hardware ecosystem, the actual purchase price of stir - frying robots is also decreasing, gradually dropping from hundreds of thousands of yuan per unit in the past to less than 100,000 yuan (excluding some customized and high - end models).
"Silicon - based Research Lab" learned that the parameters and configurations of current stir - frying robots on the market are generally considered from aspects such as appearance, voltage, pot size, pot material, capacity, and stir - frying weight. But Manager Chen also told us: "The materials used in the product and its intelligence level determine the labor - saving effect, quality, weight, food - serving speed, and firepower. The prices of products made of different materials on the market vary."
A person in the catering industry gave the following advice to restaurant owners considering using stir - frying robots: before purchasing, they should consider three points: whether they want to go the chain - store route, whether they have popular dishes, and whether they have enough funds. "It's not just about buying a machine and putting it in the store. The kitchen layout needs to be redesigned, and they need to work with the manufacturer to study recipes and equipment. Also, machines depreciate, and robots are also fixed assets."
Another soul - searching question about intelligentization is: Is the "wok hei" in the minds of diners the same as that in the minds of restaurant owners? Even if stir - frying robots can achieve a balance between flavor and efficiency, what about the vitality of Chinese cuisine?
The "wok hei" of freshly stir - fried dishes. Source: Screenshot from "A Meal to Seal the God"
The food critic Chen Xiaoqing once said: "In the field of food, the East and the West can never reach a consensus."
He gave an example. Just talking about Chinese staple foods, not to mention the strip - shaped noodles with different flavors in different regions of the country, or the various steamed and baked cakes with different sizes and diverse production methods. Take dumplings for example: "Whether they are filled with pork and scallions, fresh meat and shepherd's purse, mutton and carrots, or various seafood fillings, they all have a uniform appearance. This indeed shows the tenacious vitality of this iconic food in the East."
Perhaps the prerequisite for stir - frying robots to become a "consensus" is