Charlie Smith
SPAIN’S first restaurant with robotic waiters is set to open in Valencia at the end of the month.
Chinese-Spanish fusion restaurant Crensa will however still employ human waiters too.
The android staff will only serve tables and cannot yet take customers’ orders.
The ambitious and futuristic set-up is the brainchild of Chinese businessman Zhijie Yan.
The 29-year-old said he was ‘inspired’ by his native country where robot waiters are becoming increasingly common.
According to the entrepreneur, the ‘Mulan’ robots, which are also manufactured in China, are designed to ‘save some of the work’ of humans.
Meanwhile the kitchen will also contain six robots (smart processors), which will speed up work and assist with cooking.
Crensa is located in Benimaclet, a Moorish former village now part of Valencia, where it serves up a range of Asian and European flavours.
Dishes like ‘tuna roast’ and ‘curried crab noodles’ at prices of around €25 per dish make up Crensa’s menu, which focuses on high-quality, fresh ingredients.
“The mission of our company is to offer a varied, economical and healthy menu,” a company spokesperson said.
It comes as another businessman, Marius Robles, said he will open the robot-staffed ‘Impossible Restaurant’ in Madrid in 2020, as part of what he calls the ‘robolution’.
Yan added: “We are still many years away from fully autonomous waiters but I have no doubt that day will come.”
