Woowa Brothers begins renting out robot waiters

Customers receive food from Woowa Brothers' server robot Dilly Plate S at a restaurant in Seoul, on June 11. Courtesy of Woowa Brothers

By Kim Jae-heun

Woowa Brothers, which operates the country's largest food delivery platform, Baedal Minjok, has launched a rental program for its hall-serving robot called “Dilly Plate S” (Dilly S), the company said Monday.

“We have diversified the rental service of our server robots to help restaurant owners use them without having to spend too much money. Dilly S will definitely help self-employed people run their restaurants and create a convenient dining environment,” a Woowa Brothers official said.

The company introduced Dilly S in March of this year, renting the robot for 750,000 won ($583.43) a month under a two-year contract. This time, Woowa Brothers has extended the rental contract to three years and reduced the monthly payment to 340,000 won. When the rental contract ends, people can purchase the server robot for 3 million won.

Dilly S' rental service mainly targets restaurant owners who want to cut labor costs amid soaring minimum wages of part-time workers. The minimum wage in Korea increased fivefold from 1,850 won in 2000 to 9,160 won this year.

To ease the financial burden on restaurant owners, Woowa Brothers will allow them to purchase Dilly S through three-year installment plans using their credit cards at 450,000 won a month. If restaurant owners want to buy the server robot in a single payment, they can do so by paying a lump sum of 14 million won.

There is also a quality control program for Dilly S offered by Woowa Brothers.

When a restaurant owner rents or purchases the server robot and pays an extra 55,000 won in insurance per month, the food delivery platform operator will check and fix any problems with the robot.