Skylark's cat robots carried trays and widened who could work there

Skylark's BellaBot rollout looked like a simple labor-saving move. By 2025, Toyo Keizai reported about 3,000 cat-shaped serving robots in roughly 2,100 restaurants, usually one or two per store. But the surprising effect was not just faster tray movement.

The robot took on repetitive carrying during busy dining-room peaks. ITmedia reported that trials improved lunch-peak turnover, reduced time spent on clearing tables, and cut employee walking, while staff could focus on table service. Customer surveys also found over 90% said they were happy or roughly satisfied with the robots.

That job redesign changed recruiting. Skylark told Toyo Keizai the robots helped widen hiring, especially among senior workers, because the job no longer depended as much on carrying heavy trays over long distances.

Automate the exhausting motion, not the service

The robot targeted the physical bottleneck instead of pretending hospitality itself was automatable.

Cute behavior made the machine socially acceptable in family restaurants.

National rollout included store-layout checks and instructors, so the technology was fitted to operations rather than dropped in.

A robot can expand labor supply when it removes the part of the job that quietly excludes people.

Skylark completed the planned 3,000-robot deployment across about 2,100 stores by late 2022 and continued using the system as part of a broader labor model. Later reporting framed the robots as co-workers that made restaurant jobs more human, not merely cheaper.