Yes, Robochef! Automation is showing up in restaurants to help solve some of our labor woes

As Italy and most of the world face a demographic crisis with declining birth rates and labor shortages, restaurants like Florence’s Mangiafoco Osteria Tartuferia are turning to automation out of necessity rather than novelty. The rise of robots and AI in hospitality is reshaping the industry worldwide, balancing efficiency with tradition as businesses grapple with higher costs and fewer workers.

This article originally appeared on New Rules Media on Thursday, February 6, 2025.

WASHINGTON—On a quiet cobblestone street in Florence, just steps from the Ponte Vecchio on the Borgo Santi Apostoli, sits Mangiafoco Osteria Tartuferia, a cozy restaurant specializing in traditional Tuscan cuisine, with many dishes utilizing the coveted black truffle, a delicacy of the region.

Here, you are welcomed as family, and the cuisine is always pitch-perfect. So, it came as a surprise when I complimented the waiter on the meal, and he told me that the in-house robot, Bimby, a kitchen device that’s been on the market for the past decade, helped make the sauce that dressed my pasta.

For Mangiafoco Osteria Tartuferia, like many restaurants in Italy and around the world, automation isn’t a novelty anymore—it’s a necessity. Shifting demographics have triggered labor shortages and rising costs, forcing the hospitality industry to confront a stark reality: the old ways of doing business are no longer sustainable. But as Italy, a country known for its rich culinary heritage, begins to embrace robots, a pressing question emerges: Can innovation coexist with tradition? We’re about to find out.

Decoding the Demographics

It’s no secret that most of the developed world is experiencing a demographic upheaval unlike any we’ve seen since the end of the Second World War. However, rather than growing exponentially, as we did then, national populations in many of the world’s countries have entered a period of precipitous decline, driven primarily by low birth rates.

Take Italy, for example. This country’s population peaked at 60.79 million in 2017 and has declined since then. It hasn’t grown naturally, meaning solely through births and without immigration since 1993. As we reported earlier this year, it is on track to lose a million people, roughly the population of Naples, by the end of this decade.

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