Regardless of having an AI robotic cooking its hokkien mee, Wok A.I closed its hawker stall as a result of it couldn’t discover manpower
Singaporean F&B model Wok A.I has closed its hawker stall at Margaret Drive in Sept 2025 for essentially the most ironic motive: manpower points.
The enterprise precipitated quite a stir on social media when it first opened in Nov 2024, as a result of its idea of getting an AI robotic cooking hokkien mee. The concept even sparked debates over whether or not a robotic might match the ability of human hawkers in Singapore.
The frying machine, which price S$14,000 to purchase, has a easy technique to navigate it: the worker wants so as to add the substances—noodles, garlic, prawns, eggs, and pork stomach—in line with the directions supplied to the machine. The robotic does all of the work, because it has a chamber that accommodates a rotating arm that stir-fries the noodles.
Whereas the AI robotic has helped guarantee consistency by way of style, it seems that manpower remains to be wanted to do the mise en place, like cooking the inventory and getting ready the prawns. 53-year-old Ang Chip Hong, the proprietor of Wok A.I, shared in an interview with Mothership that he has tried to seek out manpower for one and a half months, however to no avail.
The truth is, it was what drove him to make use of robots to prepare dinner the noodle dishes within the first place—he couldn’t discover a chef, even after providing month-to-month salaries of S$4,000 to S$5,000. “Which means that the demand is low, so I felt that I wanted to depend on robots to help,” stated Ang in an interview with CNA.
Regardless of the Margaret Drive stall closure, Wok A.I.’s second outlet, positioned at NUS Yusof Ishak Home, stays open.
Robotics in F&B: Not a one-size-fits-all resolution
Robots have gotten a common feature in F&B establishments lately, taking on duties like cooking. Some companies have efficiently built-in robotics to enhance effectivity.
A notable instance is South Korean pizza chain GOPIZZA, whose GOBOT station assists employees with a number of duties, together with pizza slicing. By combining robotics, automation, and AI, the chain has reduce preparation time from 10 to fifteen minutes to only 4 to 5 minutes per pizza, optimised labour use, and maximised house effectivity.
Nonetheless, GOPIZZA continues to depend on human manpower for general operations, exhibiting that even superior robotics can not absolutely change people and are typically not but prepared for full deployment.
When the tray return robots had been launched in native meals courts in 2016, they had been touted as an answer to make it extra handy for diners to return their trays—however these robots ended up becoming a hindrance throughout busy intervals and nonetheless required cleansing when diners spilt their dishes.
Some even broke down, and the price of repairs was sufficient to rent extra cleansing employees, in the end proving that human employees had been more practical.
These cases, mixed with Wok A.I’s shutdown, present that whereas robots can help, human involvement stays important, and know-how needs to be leveraged to improve, not replace, operations.
- Learn extra tales we’ve written on Singaporean companies here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Winston Wong, Pohboon Yeo through Google Photographs
