Modern Approaches to Robotisation of Service Processes in Restaurant Industry Establishments

Topicality. Robotisation of all life spheres forces restaurant industry establishments to develop and implement innovative technologies. This process has only accelerated during the pandemic period. At the same time, blighty enterprises significantly lag behind in the pace of automation and robotisation technologies implementation in service processes. 
Research aim and methods. The purpose of the study is to research approaches to robotisation of the service process in restaurant industry establishments, as well as to determine the impact of robotisation on service quality, and develop a scheme for serving guests with robots in restaurants. In order to achieve this, a set of scientific methods and approaches have been used: systemic, functional, systemic and structural, analysis and synthesis, comparison, logical generalisation. 
Results. According to the analysis of robots practical use in serving guests, it is offered to classify their functions into three categories: reception of visitors, reception of orders and their delivery, automation of processes. It has been established that the robotisation implementation improves the quality of service provision in restaurant industry establishments. This can be explained by the increasing tendency in the degree of the guests’ satisfaction with their needs, and the originality of such an idea. The elaborated scheme of using robots for serving guests in restaurant industry establishments consists of four consecutive stages: meeting guests, choosing a table, transferring the order and the guests’ payments. 
Conclusions and discussion. Approaches to service process robotisation have been studied. It has been established that robotisation improves the quality of services in restaurant industry establishments. The spheres of robots use have been outlined. Additionally, SWOT analysis has been carried out, which shows positive and negative sides, as well as prospects and risks of using robots in restaurants. The scheme for serving guests using robots in restaurant industry establishments has been elaborated.