Lee, Myunghwan, Gene Moo Lee, Donghyuk Shin, Wooje Cho, Sang-Pil Han (2025) “Service Robots and Workforce Transformation: Evidence from Restaurant Operations”, Working Paper.
- Presented at WITS (2020), KrAIS (2020), UBC (2021), DS (2022)
- Research assistants: Raymond Situ, Gallant Tang
The introduction of AI-powered service robots, those capable of order taking, table delivery, and busser support, is significantly altering the workflow dynamics within the restaurant industry, fundamentally reshaping operations. Although these robots hold considerable promise for enhancing customer experiences and operational efficiency, their integration can introduce complex and potentially unintended consequences. Successful integration demands a careful balance among customer acceptance, automation efficiency, and worker adaptation. Yet critical questions remain insufficiently explored, particularly how the adoption of robots affects the workforce structures. This study addresses this gap by theorizing and empirically examining the impact of robotic integration on the composition of labor, with emphasis on part-time workers, who represent a significant portion of the restaurant workforce. Increased automation may reduce the number of part-time positions, but among those who remain, service robots may augment their roles by supporting or replacing routine tasks, allowing workers to focus on higher-touch interactions. This dual effect—numerical displacement alongside functional augmentation— illustrates a nuanced form of inequality in which the benefits of automation accrue unevenly even within the same labor group. Such shifts could either exacerbate labor inequalities or create opportunities for workforce adaptation and upskilling. From a systematic analysis of operational and customer review data from 3,636 restaurants, our results uncover asymmetric and unintended consequences of robotic integration on labor costs, workforce distribution, and overall restaurant performance. By shedding light on the intersection of automation, workforce restructuring, and customer reception, our findings contribute to the nascent discourse on the digital transformation of retail operations. The insights offered have important implications for managers and policymakers navigating the evolving landscape of AI-driven automation in customer-facing industries.