Local businesses will thrive on new technology.

There’s a new staff member at Cafecito, a Santa Fe restaurant and bar serving Argentinian, Armenian and Italian cuisine.

The bus moved to New Mexico a month ago and brought food with songs.

Except this worker isn’t human – it’s a robot.

Named 1-C-2 or “Juancito” by cafecito owner Andres Paglayan as a reference to the Star Wars robot R2-D2, whose name sounds like “Arturito” in Spanish, the robot delivers plates to customers and removes dirty food from buses.

“My background is technology, I’m a software developer,” Paglayan said. “Robotics has always been my fascination.”

Cafecito is the latest New Mexico business to bring in automated assistants. Last May, Biopark restaurant Shark Reef Cafe acquired Robot Cayenne, and in August, Albuquerque’s Flix Brewhouse brought in food and beverage delivery robots.

Lack of labor

Shannon Sanchez, general manager of the Shark Reef Cafe, said Cayenne was very helpful during the outbreak.

“Coming out of the pandemic, everything was a little more difficult in terms of service,” Sanchez said. “You know, some people are still sensitive to being with people, and then… recruiting was harder. It just happened, just at the right time – it filled the void we were missing.

Before the outbreak, Sanchez said, the cafe employed 15 to 25 people, depending on the season. After the pandemic, the restaurant had 10 to 20 employees, putting more labor on each employee’s shoulders — a burden Cayenne helped shoulder.

Since work has largely returned, employees are beginning to use Cayenne in different ways, Sanchez said. At first they used Cayenne to take customer orders via QR code and bring food – now employees generally use Cayenne to record junk food, do special events, and occasionally sing “Happy Birthday.”

“Clear tables send her out and have fun,” Sanchez said. “It’s kind of evolved, and we’ve figured out how to use it for other aspects.”

Christian Slough, business development representative for Albuquerque-based Biwell with Robots, said he sees robots filling the job gap. The company recently teamed up with Albuquerque cleaning supply company LD Supply Company to bring their disinfecting robots to schools and other facilities in the Southwest.

Slough said there has been a recent shortage of facility workers around the state.

“We’ve contacted 12 schools that need janitors starting this year,” Slough said. “… there is an aging population with highly variable jobs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of a sometimes thankless job, Slough said. And automation makes that job easier, especially when fewer workers take on the same amount of work. Slough hopes the LD Supply partnership is the first of the companies to incorporate the new technology.

“We’re at the beginning of distributors like LED bringing technology into the utility environment,” Slough said. “This is mainly caused by the lack of labor, and there is no other solution than applying technology.”

Helping employees

Flix Brewhouse on La Orilla and Coors brought in a team of four robots in mid-2022. General manager Brandon Higgins said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the acquisition — and in the months since, he’s remained confident.

“This really … helps the quality of life for the team,” Higgins said. “Guests really enjoy having them around, you know, as a novelty feature.”

With Flix, guests can order drinks and food and have them delivered directly to their cinema theater seats. Before Flix brings the robots, movie theatergoers must bring delicious food from the kitchen or bar to one of the eight theaters. Now, robots do most of the legwork, and runners only need to bring drinks and food from a central pad into the theater — greatly reducing the distance they have to walk, Higgins said. According to Higgins, before August, runners run 10 miles a day, hauling food and drinks around the roughly 40,000-square-foot theater. Now, assume that the length is cut in half.

Higgins said the robots not only made the service faster, but also helped the staff without reducing any human staff.

“Instead of having a lot of people focus on the food run, we can get drinks to our guests faster,” Higgins said. We can go into theaters and quickly remove dirty food from our guests and move the speed of service up.

Like Flix Robots, 1-C-2 is limited by Cafecito’s services. The robot only brings plates between the kitchen and the restaurant. But on weekdays, when business is slow, Paglayan said it’s difficult to hire an extra bus, a task that generally falls to the servers. But with a robot, Paglayan said servers can focus more on interacting with guests than processing food.

“The overall added value and what’s happening now is that the servers can be more focused on the floor,” Paglayan said.

For Paglayan, 1-C-2 has a support role in the restaurant, like washing dishes or mixing.

“We already had a dishwasher, you know, we didn’t wash the dishes by hand,” Paglayan said. “…I think it’s another help.

Investment

Paglayan rents a 1-C-2 model from Bear Robotics for $600 a month. Only a month into service, it’s not yet certain whether the investment is paying off. But he thinks that the increase in price is due to the quality of service and the amount of tips that are made from it.

“I don’t know if I’m saving money,” Paglayan said. “Perhaps… it’s a wash on the quality trade-off. But surely, it is helping the servers to increase their tips even more.

Both Flix Brewhouse and Shark Reef Cafe own their own robots. And the price is not cheap.

The Cayenne was developed by Richtech Robotics, a Nevada company that sells robots designed for the restaurant and service industries. The Matradee L model – used in the Biopark Cafe – costs around $20,000. Flix Brewhouse also uses matreddy robots.

Accessibility

Slough said Build with Robots introduced their inexpensive and small robotic cleaning robot, a move that makes robotics accessible to schools, airports and other facilities. Last month, the company sold 120 Breezy Blue units.

“This makes it practical not just for a large corporation, but for a school or office break room,” Slough said.

As more people learn how robotics can help them do their jobs, he predicts that robots will become more widely used in a variety of industries.

“We are in discussions to discuss what this will do. This is doing one task, you have 20 different tasks – this will help keep your list short.

Although Slough says some jobs will be displaced by automation — primarily in manufacturing industries — the World Economic Forum predicts the industry will create more jobs than it will shrink. But he stressed that robotics companies should help displaced workers by providing skills training.

Higgins said some customers at Flix are concerned about the robots, and have expressed concern that jobs are being displaced. But with Flicks, at least, Higgins says that’s not the case.

“We always make it a point to talk to them and let them know how, they’re not really replacing anybody’s job,” Higgins said. “They really helped the quality of life.”