Spyce: A Robot-Run Restaurant in the Heart of Boston

At the “intersection of technology and hospitality,” you’ll find Spyce: An automated restaurant where robots replace chefs and wholesome, healthy food options become affordable. Open since May 3rd of 2018, this restaurant has hungry, health-conscious consumers flocking in to see what all the fuss is about, and rightfully so. Tech dominates nearly every aspect of the restaurant, from touch screen menus to the the automated woks that prepare the dishes. It’s truly an experience unlike anything we’ve seen before in the restaurant industry. 

Robot-Run Kitchen

Walking into the restaurant, you’ll notice one thing immediately: The lack of employees. The kitchen is opened up to the seating area, so you can witness all of the autonomous action firsthand. Human employees are few, left just with the tasks of food prep and chopping, as well as a “garde manger” (pronounced gard-mahn-zey) who puts the final touches on the dishes for presentation purposes. 

Upon entry, you’re greeting not by a host or hostess, but rather an array of touch screen menus. All of the restaurant's menu options are bowls, but special dietary requests can be made to avoid cross-contamination. Once you’ve placed the order, robots begin working their magic in the kitchen, measuring out the correct ingredient amounts and mixing them in open, spinning woks. Each bowl only takes roughly 3 minutes to prepare start to finish, so it’s great for people in a time crunch.

The concept for Spyce was born from the minds of starving students; More specifically, health-conscious, hungry MIT students who were on a search for nutritious meals for under $10. Since they already had their feet wet in the robotics industry, they decided to go ahead and build a robot model in the basement of their fraternity. And thus, the idea for Spyce was created, which is now a mega popular dining spot right in the heart of Boston. 

But, the concept for a robot-run kitchen was not to put employees out of work. It wasn’t even to make a niche in the restaurant industry. According to the “Spyce Boys” who created the model, the whole goal was just to cut down the cost of healthy, fast-food meals. By utilizing robots as chefs (who also clean up after themselves), the cost of a meal turns out to be much lower, due to the autonomous workforce.

Employment in an Autonomous World 

The restaurant industry has been a huge source of employment for decades now. In fact, 1 out of every 10 working Americans have jobs in the restaurant industry.  For many different food industry workers, it’s a source of livelihood, one that is being put at risk by robot-run kitchens.

However, the restaurant industry isn’t the only one facing major upcoming changes thanks to automation. Cleaning industries, customer service roles, and even the automobile industry are preparing for a surge of technological changes that will directly affect their workforces. An example of this includes Uber, which is currently expanding its self-driving car sector. 

Not all of the aspects of the autonomous world will be negative though. Faster data analysis will become a reality, and simple tasks will be left to the machines. Technology truly holds all of the power to make our lives that much easier.

The Future of the Restaurant Industry 

We’re entering an age unlike anything the world has ever experienced. Technological innovation is at an all-time high, so predicting exactly what the future of the workforce will look like can be a difficult task. Just think about how roughly 40 years ago, built-in car GPS systems didn’t even exist. Now, we’re looking at cars that practically drive themselves, and don’t even require gasoline to run. 

Just as Spyce has moved forward with autonomous workers, we can expect other restaurants to begin doing the same, but mostly with fast-food restaurants as the forerunners of robot employees. 

CaliBurger currently uses a robot aptly named “Flippy,” which is able to flip burger patties, cook them perfectly, and clean the grill after. Arby’s has a robot that is able to roast meats intelligently on its own, so employees don’t need to arrive early in the morning to prep for the day. There’s even an entirely human-free KFC in Shanghai, complete with “friendly robots” there to take customers’ orders. 

It’s amazing how far technology has come over the past few years, and the potential that it still has for continued innovation. If you had told me 5 years back that there would be a restaurant in a few years where robots cooked for me, I’d have called it crazy. Now, I think it’s genius, and I can’t wait to give it a try.

Things are moving in an autonomous direction, and the intersection of technology and lifestyle is a space to watch closely.