Contactless Service at Cafes – Makr Shakr Recognized Worldwide for its “Robotic Bars”

Fear of enclosed spaces due to the coronavirus pandemic may change drinking culture for a long time to come. It’s already threatening the future of bartenders, Bloomberg reports.

Makr Shakr has become known worldwide for its “robotic bars”, where the service is based on modern technologies.

– In robotic bars like ours, there is no kind of contact with people because you can order and pay through your mobile phone, so you touch nothing – said Emanuele Rossetti, chief executive officer of Torino, Italy-based Makr Shakr.

To be sure, robotic mixologists won’t solve the risk of close quarters, which is part of what makes bars ideal hotspots for transmitting the coronavirus, Bloomberg writes.

Furthermore, your local bar probably doesn’t have the money right now to bring in a more-than-USD 100,000 robot, either, and big-ticket customers like cruise lines, which have been anchored for months, are stuck in a pandemic-induced financial pinch.

Rossetti said the initial impact was a “very big slowdown,” but conversations about new orders have started up again.

Countertop cocktail makers have been available for years. Larger-scale commercial options have been mixing drinks and entertainment, using robotic arms to whirl and shake cocktails in clubs from Europe to Dubai and aboard cruise ships. But the pandemic may have opened the door to a bigger stage, Bloomberg adds.

Dina Zemke, an associate professor at Ball State University who studies how physical environments affect services, said robotic bartenders are more entertainment than serious mixologists. She said that while bartenders still have a future, bars themselves may change.

There are semi-robotic options that may catch on more, such as automated dispensers for wine and mixed drinks, she said. And there are non-alcoholic options, too, like salad-making robots. But Alan Adojaan, chief executive officer of Tallinn, Estonia-based startup Yanu, said his company has created a prototype robot bartender that’s getting interest from airports and casinos.

– The concept of a bar is completely changing now, and the concept of nightclubs and public events – Adojaan said.

As Bloomberg writes, at the Tipsy Robot in Las Vegas, Makr Shakr machines typically pour out popular drinks like “Pineapple Planet” and Long Island Iced Teas for casino goers. They have to use a bar tablet to order their drinks, so it’s not as free from risk as using your mobile phone, however.

The venue was only open for one month this summer before a second state-ordered shutdown due to a surge in local Covid-19 cases, General Manager Victor Reza Valanejad said.

Makr Shakr

Emanuele Rossetti

Alan Adojaan

Dina Zemke

Victor Reza Valanejad

robotic bars