“Smart cafes” with coffee brewing robots are the latest innovation in a competitive industry

A robot called “Lucy” can brew coffee that customers order using either mobile applications or the kiosk at a Dal.komm Coffee shop in the Seocho district of Seoul. (by Lee Jeong-yeon, staff reporter)

South Korean coffee shops rush to expand their offerings in the face of high demand

South Koreans drink 428 cups of coffee a year, according to statistics for 2016, making coffee the go-to drink. Such incredible demand has kindled competition between coffee shops improve their product offerings. Establishments are racing to release new drinks and dishes, as well as digital services. This has led to a “smart café” in which the coffee is brewed by a robot.

On the morning of Jan. 20, Dal.komm Coffee, a café chain operated by payment service company Danal, held a showcase introducing its new robot café Beat (stylized as “b;eat”) on the Some Sevit floating islands in the Seocho District of Seoul. Beat is a café that only takes up 4.14 m2 of space, combining a coffee-making robot called “Lucy” with a smart ordering and payment system. “Lucy is capable of making 14 different kinds of beverages, and she can prepare 90 cups per hour,” a Dal.komm Coffee spokesperson said.

The chain noted the potential to drastically reduce opening costs for cafés by leasing Lucy robots. The costs for using a robot amount to around 1.9 million won (US$1,770), assuming operation for 48 months with a 30% advance payment.

“It’s designed to provide high efficiency at low cost. It also doesn’t take up much space, so rental costs are lower,” said Dal.komm Coffee general manager Ji Sung-won.

“[Lucy] can be maintained with around one visit a day by a robot manager, which translates into high profits relative to sales,” Ji added.

Ji Sung-won, General Manager of Dal.komm Cofee, introduces the robot café “b;eat” at a showcase on the Some Sevit Islands in the Han River near Seoul’s Seocho district on Jan. 30. (by Lee Jeong-yeon, staff reporter)

The first two Beat robot café locations opened on Jan. 18 at the IT exhibition hall of the newly opened Terminal 2 at Incheon International Airport. Dal.komm Coffee is targeting spaces in large shopping centers, terminals, and company cafeterias.

“Since opening the Beat locations in Incheon Airport, we’ve had over 30 reservations for robot purchasing,” a Dal.komm Coffee official said.

The smart payment system used by Danal and Dal.komm Coffee has recently been introduced at a number of major fast food restaurants and coffee shops. But automated systems that entrust coffee-making responsibilities to robots have yet to be introduced. For this reason, coffee shops tend to view the Beat system as a revolutionary idea, but assign more importance to providing personal services to customers.

“With coffee shops recently establishing themselves as places where coffee serves as a medium for communication between baristas and customers and various activity-based events are taking place, we aren’t really considering introducing an automated system using robots,” said a source at one coffee shop.

　

By Lee Jeong-yeon, staff reporter

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