My favorite breakfast spot in Tokyo is Jonathan’s. This chain serves some of the best eggs and pancakes around — with almost no human workers.
I’ve been coming to Japan and Jonathan’s since 2014. In the past, it operated like other restaurants, with service entirely by humans.
I arrived in Tokyo again a couple of days ago, for the first time since 2020. Popping into Jonathan’s, I noticed everything had changed.
Robots traversed the floor. Tablets were on every table.
If you want to automate your business, Jonathan’s is an awesome case study. Here’s how they did it…
Automating a Business, End to End
How eating at Jonathan’s worked before:
- Walk in, employee greets you.
- Sit down.
- Press button to summon waiter.
- Place order with waiter.
- Food comes.
- Eat.
- Press button, waiter brings check.
- Go to register.
- Employee rings you up
How it works now:
- Walk in, employee greets you.
- Sit down.
- Order from tablet.
- Robot brings food and receipt.
- Eat.
- Go to register and ring yourself up.
Jonathan’s has cut the steps from 9 to 6. It’s also removed around 90% of the front-of-house human labor.
The food is as delicious as ever — maybe better. When I hear the robot roll along the tile floor, I salivate like Pavlov’s dogs.
As Humans Become Scarce, Machines Pick Up the Slack
In a country with 2.7% unemployment and an aging population, you have no choice but to use less human labor.
In America, I’ve never seen a robot bring food in a restaurant. Few restaurants even use tablets for ordering, aside from fast food chains.
Jonathan’s robots are made by Pudu Robotics, a Chinese startup. I’ve been to Jonathan’s four times so far on this trip (what can I say, I love it), and the Pudu robots have worked very well.
One time, it started driving away with my acai yogurt! But a helpful staff member stopped it in time.
Seeing how heavily the front of house is automated made me curious about the kitchen…
Jonathan’s does not appear to be using cooking robots in its kitchens yet. They serve such a wide variety of food that it would be difficult. Robots would need to make everything from scrambled eggs to Japanese curry.
Preserving the Human Touch
Overall, this automated system works great.
One suggestion: station an employee at the register to make sure each customer is greeted on their way in and thanked on their way out. Folks in the back often manage to do this anyhow, but having a dedicated employee helps build that customer relationship.
I miss the personal attention from the old system a little. But despite being quite busy, the wonderful folks at Jonathan’s manage to slip in a smile and a kind word.
Wrap-Up
I love seeing how people do things in the rest of the world. And in terms of restaurant automation, Japan is way ahead.
Will Americans accept this style of service? With low fertility rates and declining immigration, we may not have a choice.
My take: automating restaurant work is a positive, not a negative. It lets human beings move up the value chain and take on higher paid and more rewarding jobs.
If you’re looking to automate your business, study Jonathan’s. Map out every step of the customer journey and see how you can apply technology to it.
You may find you need a lot fewer workers than you thought.
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