[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
A smart community launched on Jan 26 in Dongjiagou subdistrict, Jinpu New Area of Dalian, Liaoning province, features an automated cooking machine and a machine that can steam, roast and stew food.
The community also offers discounts to people who are 60 or older and provides meal delivery services for those with mobility challenges and disabilities.
Local resident Li Dan said, "The dishes cooked by the machine tasted good. I couldn't tell whether they had been cooked by a chef or a machine."
The canteen also uses facial recognition and dish recognition technology for accurate billing and payment, as well as displaying real-time sales data on a large screen.
Based on the "government guidance, market-oriented operation" principle, the canteen is operated by the catering management company Dalian Jiufu Tuanshan, which has kitchens in 25 cities nationwide that serve 520,000 meals to students at noon every day.
Li Songtao, the company's chairman, said, "The smart canteen not only provides residents with safe and healthy dining options, it can also save one-third of labor costs and raw material procurement costs.
"There is huge market potential, and we hope to develop a model that can be replicated and promoted nationwide."
