UK- Japanese concept Yari Club has revealed plans to open its first outlet in St. Martin’s Lane in Central London, which will also debut its first robotic yakitori machine in the UK.
This will be the first time the QSR Brand will be launched outside Asia.
The robots will make Yokitori, which can be loosely translated to ‘grilled chicken,’ from the Japanese words yaki (grill) and tori (chicken).
Yokitori shops are typically small shops that specialize in the grilled chicken, which take the form of a compact shop that sells the chicken on take out basis.
After ordering, customers will place an order with the restaurant’s staff who will then manually load skewers into the robot’s grabbing arm.
Customers can then watch the yokitori machine process their order via a grasp, grill and sauce dipping machine, which should result in a reduced waiting time of 5 minutes.
The machine was launched by Jimmy Tjhie, founder of Methuselah Limited, the parent company of Yari Club, which has exclusive rights to the technology in the UK and Europe.
Jimmy Tjhie said, “Our aim with Yari Club is to use customer-visible robotics to add a fun and futuristic dynamic to the Central London QSR scene.”
“The auto-rotating yakitori grill machine will be placed at the front of our unit so customers can follow their orders and passers-by be entertained. We hope to see the same enthusiasm as in Asia, where the robots and chefs successfully work side by side.”
The outlet will offer a selection of eight yakitori dishes- Tsukune (meatball, savoury, sweet glaze), Kawa (skin, juicy, rich taste), Mune (breast, lean, mild flavour), Momo (thigh, tender, flavourful meat), Toriniku (thigh and breast, tender, versatile, juicy), Classic Negima (thigh, spring onion, juicy, savoury) Miso Mune (breast, miso-marinated, savoury) and Teba (wings, crispy, flavourful skin.
Priced will start from £2.50 (US$ 3.30) per skewer, three for £6.90 (US$9.12) or five for £11.90 (US$15.73). Rice Boxes are also available, priced at £11.90 (US$15.73) or £16.80 (US$22.33) for three or five skewers, respectively.
According to Yari Club, a soft launch will offer 50% off the menu, including drinks, from September 23 to September 30 ahead of the official launch on October 1.
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