Nashville Restaurant 'Hires' Robot As Newest Worker

If you notice a small robot roaming around a Nashville restaurant, no you're not seeing things.

The Donelson location of Party Fowl is testing out a new robot service that would help out in the restaurant, per WSMV. While a human server will actually give diners their meal, the robot – named Nash, of course – will serve as a food runner, bringing food from the kitchen to the table.

"We can't find enough people to staff appropriately to give our guests the best experience," said Owner Austin Smith, who added that he doesn't plan on replacing human workers. "So no, this is not going to be taking jobs, this is actually assisting the people who are showing up to work every day and making their life a little easier and relieving a pressure point."

Smith said that he was approached by PepsiCo and Bear Robotics about testing out a robot food service worker, which has been used at other restaurants around the country.

"I think with the struggles that restaurants are having keeping fully staffed at this point in time, I think the future is going to look a lot more like Nash," he said.

The restaurant is testing Nash in a 90-trial to see how it impacts service. According to the news outlet, full service would likely require three robots at a time. Despite the testing phase, Smith hopes to add more humans to the staff in future.

"At the end of the day, I'd rather have feet on the ground, I'd rather have people in this building," said Smith. "Because you can't recreate the connection that a guest has with a human being."