Robot News

4 Chili's around Dallas add little robot named Rita to service team

Rita's coming at you.

Photo courtesy of Chili's

Dallas-based Chili's, known for their baby back ribs and chili, has something new on the menu: a robot server named "Rita."

Rita is a Servi model made by Bear Robotics, a California-based company that debuted the robot in September 2020. Motto: "Servi Tackles The Dirty Work - Servi Runs, You Serve."

Chili's began testing the robot as a service backup in October 2020.

"Rita" is currently deployed in 61 of their locations across the U.S., including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and Texas.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the robot can currently be found in four restaurants:

Castle Hills – 4570 Highway 121, Lewisville
Tarrant Pkwy – 8485 Davis Blvd, North Richland Hills
Justin Road – 6251 Long Prairie Rd, Flower Mound
Park & Preston – 5012 W. Park Blvd, Plano

"We find it very important to note that she is not taking anyone's job," a spokesperson says. "She exists to make the jobs of our Team Members easier and to actually allow guests to get more face time with our staff because our servers don’t need to run back and forth."

Rita's four duties include:

Hosting. Lead diners to their table, allowing the host to stay at the host stand to help those still waiting.
Food Running. Carry the bulk of the dishes, saving strain on servers and food runners and allowing servers to spend more time in the front of the house.
Bussing: Can be loaded up and sent to the kitchen to more quickly unload tables.
Birthday Song: Sings the Chili's birthday song and delivers a free dessert.

That last task is hugely popular for kids and if you've ever worked at a restaurant and been forced to sing Happy Birthday to a customer, you already know that having a robot do this instead is infinitely preferable.

Not that one needs to clarify, but there is nothing human or female about "Rita" at all. The robot is a mobile cylinder with three shelves. It could have been nicknamed Roger or Randy or Roland or Ryan or Russell.

And Chili's is not the first to add robots to its service arsenal. Robots were pegged as the No. 1 trend in food & beverage for 2022, and are especially popular at Asian restaurants such as Bushi Bushi, a dim sum place in Addison.

Brinker has made other high-tech forays including its partnership with drone delivery company Flytrex to deliver Chili's It's Just Wings to customers in their backyards.

As far as mistakes go, Rita has been found to get it right more than 99 percent of the time, which easily exceeds the performance of most humans. But Chili's is still supporting the human race, with all its flaws.

"The hospitality industry is about people, and we have no interest in changing that," says Brinker's senior vice president of innovation Wade Allen.

We are innovating in ways that make Team Members less likely to burn out or wear down," he says. "Rita can shoulder the physical load, leading to less exertion and more efficiency."

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Escargot News

New all-day French bistro in downtown Rockwall is all from scratch

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Belle View Bistro Rockwall

An all-day French bistro has made its debut in Rockwall: Called Belle Vie Bistro, it’s a new mom-and-pop in the charming historic downtown district, at 112 E. Rusk St., the former home of The Fatted Calf restaurant, where it opened its doors on November 12.

Belle Vie is from Luis and Iliana Marquez, a hard-working couple who also own Los Marquez, a popular taco--themed food-truck-turned-restaurant in Rockwall they first debuted in 2019. In May, the couple took over the former Fat Chicken space to open a brick and mortar location of Los Marquez, where they serve well-made Mexican food like tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but also burgers & fries. They open for breakfast with breakfast tacos, and run a daily lunch special, often creative, always popular, such as birria ramen with choice of beef or lamb for $11.

But the couple had a bigger vision of creating a place where chef Luis could stretch and showcase his skills.

"Luis has a lot of culinary experience, and it’s something that he’s been putting aside,” Iliana says. “We were just waiting on the perfect time to bring this to life.”

"This is something exciting and new for us, it’s something that we always wanted to make,” Luis says.

Like Los Marquez, Belle Vie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving classics like French onion soup, moules frites, escargot, and duck confit. There are also comforting and American dishes like spinach-artichoke dip, crab cakes, and fish & chips.

Lunch features Cobb salad, a French dip, and chicken & Brie panini, while an extended breakfast -- which runs from 7 am to 4 pm — includes pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, beignets French toast, and crepes, plus pastries and breads made from scratch.

Mural on the wall at Belle Vie Bistro RockwallFacebook

The bakery counter is a delight, with eclairs, croissants, scones, fruit tarts, and cake slices in flavors like carrot cake and white chocolate raspberry. There's also a serious coffee program with espresso drinks such as lattes.

"We pride ourselves on making everything from scratch," the duo says. "Our bread—whether for sandwiches, paninis, hamburgers or anything listed on our menu is made fresh just for us by our incredibly talented pastry chef and baker. The same care goes into our pastries and desserts ensuring every bite is special and crafted with love."

The dining room is warm and cozy with dark wood chairs and plush booths and a full-wall mural depicting a street in Paris. They also have a full bar, with cocktails and beer on tap. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $9 for a Belgian waffle during breakfast to $45 for prime ribeye at dinner.

For now, they're not taking reservations — it's first come, first serve.

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