Robot servers join the wait staff at Glenwood Springs restaurants, heralding possible new age
Post Independent
Cassandra Ballard/ Post Independent
We are all starting to get a little worried the robots are going to take all of our jobs.
What many of us haven’t expected is that robots can actually bring some much-needed relief for employees.
That’s at least the intent for Manik Sakya, the owner of the Nepal and Everest Nepal restaurants in Glenwood Springs.
This month, Sakya introduced two new robot employees to each of his restaurants.
Cassandra Ballard/ Post Independent
“Now we’re happy, the employees are happy, and the robots are happy,” Sakya said with a laugh.
About five years ago, Sakya said, he saw a video of a serving robot in Japan and always wanted to bring one into his restaurant. After the pandemic his business got busier, but he started having trouble finding a full serving staff.
He decided to take the leap and finally buy some robots.
Sakya wanted to bring something new and fun to the area and have something that would also make his business run more smoothly.
Although he calls the robots his servers, he still has a human serving staff taking care of diners.
The robots can’t explain the heat level for spiciness, or ask if the guests are enjoying their meal, he said. What they can do is deliver 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 cooks will put the food on the tray and tell the robot what table to take it to.
Cassandra Ballard/ Post Independent
People can grab their meals off of the tray or have their server grab them. Then they push a button to say they are finished 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 phrases she says when she is at the table. Guests can even pet her, but she does get cranky after a short while and will ask to not be touched anymore.
Sakya’s main goal is to make all of the people around him happy. He said that if people are happy, they live longer, wrinkle less and rarely get sick.
He wants that good quality of life for all of the people around him.
There has already been so much success with the robots at both locations that he wants to get more restaurants to look into getting them, and he even mentioned wanting to become a distributor someday.
Cassandra Ballard/ Post Independent
For now, he seems happy being the only restaurant owner to have them because he is still getting a kick out of how happy they make his customers.
Cathy and Bradd Faxon were dining at Everest Nepal before heading home to Breckenridge and they said they had never seen anything like this around the Western Slope.
“Great food and Bella,” Bradd said. “The future’s right here in Glenwood Springs.”
