'We hear the laughter': Saskatoon restaurant serves up the future with Gina the robot

A restaurant in Saskatoon is taking its customers into the future, having introduced a serving robot two weeks ago.

Sam Yang, owner of Yip Hong’s Dim Sum, said that when the pandemic started and business slowed, he wanted to look at ways to keep business going while taking the safety of staff and customers into account.

That’s when he decided to buy a robot to serve customers.

“We hoped to decrease the face-to-face interaction and decrease the chance to get COVID,” Yang told CTV News.

That has paid off for the long-time restauranteur as customers don’t just come for the food - they also come to see Gina the robot.

“It’s a little bit of the future and they’re the first to have it in Saskatoon so it’s pretty cool,” regular customer Lucas Whitehead said.

Customers order through a QR code menu and then Gina goes to work.

“We order online through the menu and just submit it the normal way and they get it and as the food comes out, servers put it on the robot and it comes to the table,” regular customer David Pratt said.

The restaurant has about 23 staff now and Yang says that number hasn’t gone down.

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“We are still looking for more staff. A lot of people come here to see the robot and they are happy to get serviced by the robot. We hear the laughter.”

The robot was purchased from a company in China and programmers in Regina set it up.

While there are many positive responses about Gina, some customers prefer human servers.

“I still enjoy the traditional dim sum style but with COVID, it’s a help,” Larry Lee told CTV News.

Gina cost about $30,000 and Yang doesn’t rule out getting another robot to help her out down the road.