Mechanical catering at Haidilao hotpot "smart" restaurant at Nanjingnan Railway Station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

What's more, the robot "chef" has attracted an increasing number of diners since the restaurant's opening in October.

"The taste is good and the price is not expensive," a regular customer, surnamed Xu, says.

With such eateries springing up across the country, robot "chefs" are not only taking over restaurants but also coming into homes.

Behind the scenes is the country's growing service robotics industry, which, as of 2021, had a market value of more than 58 billion yuan ($8.3 billion), according to the Statista database portal. The industry is projected to reach a value of 291 billion yuan by 2027.

"Service robots are constantly improving the level of social services in catering, retail, logistics distribution, medical rehabilitation and other fields," says Wang Hong, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The "smart" restaurant for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games may indicate what the future of the food service industry looks like. With no human chefs and waiters, robots took charge of everything.

In 2018, popular hotpot brand Haidilao opened its first "smart "restaurant. The kitchen, equipped with two rows of robotic arms, can automatically collect prepackaged dishes from cold storage.

For Li, it is only a matter of time before such machinery becomes a common sight in kitchens.

"The labor shortage caused by the pandemic is accelerating this process," Li says, adding that he plans to open 20 more eateries this year, staffed by robot "chefs".

According to an annual report on the country's restaurant industry released by China Hospitality Association, a shortage of labor is a challenge faced by many business operators.