JD.com’s First Robot Restaurant Now Open in Tianjin

Chinese online retailer JD has opened its first fully automated robot restaurant in Tianjin. The 400sqm venue has opened as “XCafe” at the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, an area of Tianjin dedicated to environmental sustainability. XCafe is the first fully-automated restaurant in China, with all aspects of ordering, preparing, cooking, plating and serving performed by robots, which can work a full day on a single charge. Five or six human staff are still required to refill and position ingredients for the robot chefs.

XCafe’s manager Tang Siyu said the restaurant can seat about 300 guests for dinner, with a table turnover rate of three turns per table during the lunch or dinner hour. It currently serves around 40 predominantly stir-fry dishes, with a potential full menu of more than 200 offerings.

The restaurant also features VR interactive games and immersive dining experience areas.

JD plans to open 1000 robot restaurants by 2020 and is seeking to promote the technology to other catering firms.