MACON, Ga. — We constantly hear about staffing shortages taking over many different job fields. Businesses are always looking for unique ways to curb the issue, and help retain the staff they do have.
One Macon restaurant showed our reporter Megan Western how they're doing it with the use of technology.
At Dua Vietnamese Restaurant employees can focus on cooking and working the bar, because with the tap of a button, they can send a robot to deliver orders to customers.
Richie the Robot is a server. He is built with three trays, allowing him to serve up to three tables in one trip with speedy delivery.
"Table 9 your order has arrived, please pick it up from tier 1, after picking up your meal please press the button below the screen enjoy your meal," says Richie as he delivers a meal.
He doesn't take orders, he just delivers them, but Makeiley Brooks says is helps when they're short staffed or just busy.
"If you're here by yourself, sometimes you get people to come out of nowhere, so it causes a rush. He helps make sure their food is hot," says Brooks.
Richie works 12 hour shifts and his social battery rarely drops below 70 percent. He doesn't call in sick, take days off, and he has great customer service skills.
"He has a lot of manners, so if you're blocking his way he won't go through, so its not going to hit you or knock the customer or child over," Brooks adds.
Brooks says that people of all ages enjoy his service.
"We have some kids that come in here and want to send the robot back and forth, and it helps the parents when they have kids that are rowdy in restaurants," she adds.
Overall they believe Richie allows their customers to have a great experience.
"Usually you don't see something like that except for on tv. So I think it's really nice to experience a robot delivering your food in person," Brooks adds.
Richie does other fun things like sing Happy Birthday and Holiday jingles.