A Sarnia restaurant says their new robot waiter is bringing in more business, which has led to a need for new hires.
Bella, an automated server assistant, has been working at The Crown Café on Exmouth Street since the beginning of August.
Co-owner Manny Sandhu said Bella has been a big help to the staff, especially when it gets busy.
"Bella can't do it on her own and neither can the staff we have. And at this moment, we actually are looking at hiring people for the front of the house and the back of the house," he said. "So, it's been great, brilliant, and I wish her all the best, to be fair."
Sandhu said he and his wife had been looking into purchasing the robot since January. He said the main motto was to have a gimmick to entertain the kids.
"We believe that there was something missing in the market for kids, and we wanted to do something more interactive," he said. "It's being received by adults and children wanting for Bella to come back to their table and interact with her, rub her ears, she talks to you, you get to do personal messages for birthdays. She's doing a great job."
Sandhu said while most patrons like Bella, the restaurant has received some complaints about the robot, including accusations that Bella is taking people's jobs or that it's cutting out human interactions.
"Our idea was, to anyone who did review the wrong way, was to [say] 'come in and try it, check it out and see for yourself and then make that suggestion,'" he said. "We've had people that have come and kind of been curious about it, and funny enough, they actually changed their minds, which is the plus side."
Sandhu also said that Bella is more of an attraction to Sarnia.
"And Sarnia's so multicultural," he said. "Coming from England, born and bred, such a big multicultural city in the UK, and we don't see anything different."
While Sandhu has no plans to buy another robot at this time, he said with the response they're getting, that may change in the future.
With files from Natalia Vega