Vkusno — i tochka keeps people in the dining room

Vkusno — i tochka believes robots can already handle some routine restaurant work, but they will not replace front-of-house employees. The chain wants machines to take on order delivery, cleaning, and warehouse tasks, while staff continue handling guest interactions and situations that require a human response.

The company’s position is that automation should remove repetitive work rather than replace employees outright. It also warns that trying to automate every process at once could increase operating costs—and eventually menu prices.

That approach mirrors wider experiments across the restaurant industry. Cafes and fast-food chains worldwide are testing machines for cleaning, delivery, and order handoff. Similar trials are already under way at large Russian food-service chains and shopping-center food courts, although they have not moved to fully mechanized shifts.

Recommended reading

TSMC’s record quarter triggers an AI spending selloff

Guests often need reliable, human service more than record speed, Vkusno — i tochka says, particularly when an order must be remade or a problem arises at the register. At a pilot restaurant in Gorky Park, the chain is testing cleaning robots and new self-service formats, while keeping employees in the service process.

The pilots are also intended to show where automation genuinely saves time and money—and where it only adds costs. If the trials produce a noticeable benefit, the solutions could be rolled out to other locations. For now, the universal “robot waiter” remains a human.

Marta Barinova is an editor on the news desk specializing in software analysis, streaming services, and policy changes at global technology platforms. She has written more than 140 articles covering Windows updates, feature changes in Spotify and Google, and antitrust regulation of app stores.