Gecko’s Grill is a popular chain restaurant located in the Sarasota area. On their staff you can find hostess, waiters, waitresses — and a robot named “GQ92.”
The restaurant’s newest staff member is named after the original owners of the restaurant, Mike Gowan and Mike Quillen, who opened the chain in 1992.
The robot is designed and created by Bear Robotics, a robotics company that’s “committed to bridging better connections between servers and diners while building on the technology that makes it possible.”
The decision by Gecko’s Grill to bring on GQ92 was due in part to a nation wide labor shortage that left many restaurants hurting for help in the midst of Covid-19. Their goal is not to replace servers, but to assist and make business run smoother.
Moves like these have similarly been made by bigger chains such as McDonalds, who has partially transitioned to automatic menu and ordering stations, instead of your typical face to face cashier transaction.
How have the customers at Gecko’s Grill responded so far?
“Honestly, the guests love it, it’s really…specially the kids, kids really love it, and they wanna… they wanna see it, they’re like–can you please send the robot out to the table” said Gecko Grill General Manager Kevin Thompson.
Is this a sign for the future to come? Or will this be a fad that exits the scene due to lack of human interaction? Smaller chains in the Tampa area have also begun using similar robotics to help their operations serve smoothly.
Credits
Anchor: Eduardo Reksiedler, Christopher Zingale
Reporters: Eduardo Reksiedler, Christopher Zingale
Web Editor: Kyle Fahey
Web Managing Editor: Chrisovaladou Pantelis
Graduate Assistant: McKenzie Muskett
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Stephanie Anderson, Wayne Garcia
