Chefs Convey Orders by Voice while Making Sushi

At the restaurant, Kaitenzushi Triton, orders are taken by having customers tell sushi chefs behind the counter what they want. Up to now, sushi items that could be made at the counter would be prepared by the sushi chefs behind the counter, while orders for other items would be conveyed by the chefs to staff in the kitchen in the back via a microphone. Under this system, however, orders would sometimes be missed or mistakes made because the staff in the kitchen would misunderstand the orders relayed by chefs that were broadcast on the speaker in the kitchen, or not hear them in their entirety.

The new order-recognition system for sushi restaurants takes into account the work environment of sushi chefs, where it is difficult for them to input information by hand, owing to sanitation concerns, and is thus characterized by the use of voice-recognition technology.  When the sushi chef relays an order using the microphone at the counter, the system immediately recognizes the voice and the order appears on the monitor behind the microphone so that it can be confirmed. The order information is then printed out as a receipt on a printer located in the kitchen and a chime sounds indicating an order has been received so that staff can respond appropriately.

By introducing this system, the average of 30 missed or mistaken orders committed daily by each sushi chef has been greatly reduced. Development of the kaitenzushi order-recognition system took roughly nine months of repeated testing and improvements.

Kitaichi Shokuhin intends to commercialize this newly constructed system and sell it to kaitenzushi chains nationwide beginning in July of this year. The minimum configuration of the system, which consists of one PC unit, a microphone, a display monitor and a receipt printer, will retail for 500,000 yen (not including tax).

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