Restaurants recruit robots in kitchen

Xiang E Qing, a high-end Chinese restaurant group, has recruited two robots for its fast food catering in Beijing.

On Jan 30, the company opened a fast food outlet called Weizhidu at Wantong Shopping Mall close to the city's West Second Ring Road.

In an attempt to lower labor cost, the fast food restaurant uses two robots to fry dishes priced at 3 yuan, 6 yuan, 9 yuan and 12 yuan per helping.

Zhu Jianxiong, assistant to the chairman of the board with Xiang E Qing food group, says the cooking robots can do several different ways of cooking — frying, deep-frying and quick frying. The length of cooking, number and amount of ingredients are pre-set on the robot.

"The key is that robots, unlike human beings, are stable and can therefore maintain standard food quality, realizing standard production of Chinese food," he says.

Xiang E Qing is among a very few Chinese restaurants listed on the Shanghai stock market. Zhu says the food group will set up a fast food restaurant in each business area in Beijing, all with the help of cooking robots.