SAN DIEGO — If you've been to the Broken Yolk Cafe on Garnet Avenue lately, you might've seen, or been served by, a robot.
The new team member is called the Servi-Plus, but is more affectionately, and sarcastically, known as Speedy by the crew. Marketing Director Conner Gossel explained some of Speedy's tasks.
"Going amongst the guests, going amongst the team, bussing tables for us and just contributing to the efficiency of a day-to-day operation," Gossel said.
Speedy is mapped with a layout of the restaurant. With the help of a server, he can bring food to tables or dishes back to the kitchen. He was hired as a trial run and has been a hard-working employee for the past three months. The team wanted to see if the robot could improve operations, speed up service or take care of busy work. Plus, it's just fun to have a robot at work, and customers find him entertaining.
"Beyond just experimenting with that level of efficiency, a lot of the motivation was just in truly how cool it is to have around for a lot of people," Gossel said.
While technology is entering many job markets, this robot is not looking to replace any jobs.
"He's fun, he's nice to have, lend a helping hand where he can," Gossel said. "But he can't replace the human touch that our servers and our team here is giving."
There's only one Broken Yolk robot right now, but keep an eye out at other locations for a Speedy in the future.