From robot servers to a return to sit-down dining, here’s how the pandemic is shaping the way Columbus eats out
When you place an order at the newly-opened Northwest Side hotspot Hiro Ramen & Tea, instead of a human waiter bringing your food out from the kitchen, you can expect to be to be served by a robot.
According to Hiro’s Marketing Director Nathan Ai, the eatery decided to implement their robotic servers (and is even considering using them to bring food to drive-thru customers) in part, as a response to COVID-19.
Hiro’s robots represent just one way among many that Columbus restaurants are seeing a change in how residents dine out (or don’t) today, due to COVID-19.
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And while the dine-in experience at Hiro Ramen is made more unique due in part due to the pandemic, some new eateries are simply eschewing the dine-in experience altogether.
Alongside the rapidly increasing numbers of Columbus ghost kitchens, Smash Brothers Sliders is counting on the fact that the pandemic will usher in a long-term move away from traditional dining.
This means, according to co-owner Sam O’Brien, that the pick-up only eatery decided to ditch sitting down as an option altogether, and instead put money into the delivery and takeout experience.
“Most restaurants had to adapt with COVID, and started focusing a lot more on their online sales, but none of them were designed to do that. We are,” he said. “We’re focusing on providing awesome packaging and food that’s just as good 30 to 60 minutes after it’s made, because that’s normally when you’re eating delivery food. We want to provide the best delivery and takeout experience available, and the concept is made for that.”
Smash Brothers, which opened late last year as a ghost kitchen inside the Ohio Taproom (although its run there has recently ended), is currently considering its next move. Even if O’Brien and company does opt to expand to a brick and mortar restaurant, he noted it won’t be a traditional dine-in space
Others, like High Bank Distillery Co. President and Founding Partner Jordan Helman, believe the traditional dine-in experience isn’t going anywhere.
In fact, Helman thinks the pandemic–which has brought months, years even, of restricted human interaction for so many of us–has made the classic sit-down restaurant dinner even more special for many Columbusites.
“The experience of dining out is irreplaceable. You can’t really replicate the energy of being around other people virtually. The zoom happy hours are cool for a while, but it’s not the same,” he said. “You can’t replace the vibrancy of a great bar, the feeling when you walk inside.”
High Bank, like other fine dining establishments, offers touches that can’t be replicated virtually or with take-out food, like watching your mixologist smoke wood chips for an old fashioned in front of you.
Helman has noticed changes with the way Columbus dines out today, though.
“People have become more selective for sure,” he said. “Everyone has their own beliefs and comfort levels. A lot of people do go out less, and when they do, it’s much more intentional.”
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