Ani Ramen has one answer to the labor shortage: Rosie the Ramenbot

Ani Ramen has hired a new employee, one that has surprised, delighted, impressed and angered customers — and social media users alike.

The employee, assigned to the Cranford location of the popular Japanese mini-chain, moves gingerly from kitchen to dining room, carrying more bowls of ramen than any of her colleagues ever could. Never stopping to chat or take a break, she reliably brings food to each of her assigned tables and then returns to the kitchen to pick up her next order.

The employee is Rosie the Ramenbot, a robot that has been on the job for three months; the first two in Ani Ramen's New Brunswick location and now in Cranford, Ani Ramen's biggest shop, where, owner Luck Sarabhayavanija said, she is more needed.

The owner and CEO of Ani Ramen, Luck
The owner and CEO of Ani Ramen, Luck

Ani Ramen currently has seven locations in New Jersey, one in New York City, and is planning on adding four more locations this year, one in Bergen County, another in Princeton and a couple in Westchester.

"Our staff is thanking us for this," Sarabhayavanija said. "Rosie is here to assist, not take anyone's job away."

While Ani Ramen may be the first restaurant to employ a robot in New Jersey, robots have been showing up in dining rooms across the nation. Among establishments that employ bots are The Distillery Restaurant in Victor, New York; Lelulo’s in Cape Coral, Florida; and the Haus of Pizza in Palm Desert, California.

Some robots can deliver drinks and clean tables, Sarabhayavanija said. Venezia’s Pizzeria in Tempe, Arizona, uses a robot to deliver pizzas to homes near the restaurant. Some robots can even cook food, Sarabhayavanija said, adding that he is in fact in discussions with a robotic company that produces robots that can cook.

"Robots are an extra pair of hands," he said. And technology, he said can help restaurants, many struggling to survive, in myriad ways. He notes that in Ani Ramen's kitchens, pasta cookers have "built-in arms" with a set timer that automatically lift noodles out of the boiling water when done. "A server only has two arms," he said. "And if you have eight cookers going at the same time, some can get overcooked while the server tries to get to it. With automatic arms, there's no overcooking. It is more consistent."

As for the fear that they will replace humans — a charge that many made on Ani Ramen's Instagram account when it posted a video of Rosie at work; "Hire humans. Say no to bots," said one — Sarabhayavanija countered that robots may help restaurants, struggling mightily to keep their doors open during the pandemic, survive.

Restaurants, he said, are having enormous difficulty hiring now. "We have spent more than a thousand dollars a month on ads in the past two years trying to get people," he said. "What are restaurant operators supposed to do?"

Many restaurants have just gone out of business. Nationwide, according to Fortune.com, 110,000 restaurants have closed in 2020, erasing 2.5 million jobs.

"All operators are holding on for dear life to survive," he said.

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Esther Davidowitz is the food editor for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, please subscribe today and sign up for our North Jersey Eats newsletter.

Email: davidowitz@northjersey.com

Twitter: @estherdavido

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ani Ramen has a robot working its dining room