Imagine going to work at your hipster cafe at 6 in the morning, with only 4 hours of sleep after spending a late night because of an emergency.
If your baristas were replaced with robots, you realise, you don’t have to. The night before, you were snuggling in bed and had set on your tablet to automatically unlock your shop at 7 a.m. Early bird coffee drinkers, annoyed and groggy, some in a hurry to work, rush into your shop and queue at the robot baristas. Each customer touches the screen, swipes, taps, presses buttons, and pays with their debit card in less than 30 seconds. A robot barista moves swiftly with accuracy and precision, grinds a fruity Ethiopian bean blend that a customer had selected on the screen, tamps cleanly, heats and froths the milk with perfection (oat milk and warm temperature to their preference), and dispenses a ceramic cup of flat white for dine-in. The next customer takes out her phone and scans a QR code; the screen displays takeaway latte, large, regular milk, hot, Indonesian bean blend, lightly sweetened. She accepts the order, hovers her card over the sensor and pays cashless in an instant.
Does this sound too far-fetched?
Well, we may not be too far from the future for this to be reality.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way people are consuming coffees around the world. Driven by customers who demand efficiency, consistency, and high quality, automation and app-based ordering is shifting into the new norm.
According to a research report by Technavio, the automatic espresso machines market will experience a growth of 1.04 billion US dollars from 2020 to 2024 [1]. In line with this, the Australian supermarket chain Coles installed 770 automatic espresso machines in 723 Coles Express stores during the Covid pandemic [2].
World Coffee Portal, a leading information platform for the global coffee industry, reports that 61% of about 50,000 UK consumers surveyed had downloaded a coffee shop app in 2021 [3]. World Coffee Portal also reports that 86% of Chinese consumers surveyed have ordered coffee for delivery, over 50% of them doing so 2 to 3 times a week in 2020 alone [4].
But I Still Don’t Want Robot Baristas. That’s Sad
We understand why you may feel that way.
Technology isn’t inherently bad. As hipster cafe owners/operators, how we use technology determines how it benefits us. It can improve customer experience (e.g., efficiently service customers during rush hour), reduce expenses (e.g., training costs from high staff turnover), increase our leisure time, and put more money into our pockets including employees.
We know future technology will replace or eliminate millions of jobs. More and more cashiers are substituted by self-checkout machines. Private companies in the food and beverage industry, including those traditionally considered ‘artisanal’, are seeking solutions in technology for improved efficiency, consistency, and profits. Despite all of this, hipster cafes with human baristas has its purpose. People will still crave human connection and have an appreciation for craftsmanship.
So the question is posed: what can human staff at our hipster cafe offer that robots can’t?
1. “Automatic Espresso Machines Market 2020-2024“. Business Wire. 2020.
2. “Coles Roll Out of Urban Coffee Culture“. Eversys. 2022.
3., 4. “How technology is changing the business of coffee“. World Coffee Portal. 2022.