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The newest boba shop to land on the Peninsula is only 20 square feet and doesn’t have any human employees.
It’s the latest public project from Yo-Kai Express, a Hayward-based company known for its ramen vending machines. The beverage bot debuted in early February at the Aloft Hotel in Millbrae, allowing guests and visitors to get made-to-order boba tea drinks 24 hours a day.
Yo-Kai Express’ beverage bot is the latest in a string of new customer-facing food robots in Silicon Valley, including the robotic coffee shop Yummy Future in downtown Palo Alto and the burger-making robots part of BurgerBots in Los Gatos.
The beverage bot, situated right next to Yo-Kai Express’ ramen vending machine, cooks its boba balls to order, a process that takes about 60 seconds. This is a departure from traditional boba shops, which cook large batches of tapioca pearls every three to four hours, noted Amanda Tsung, COO of Yo-Kai Express.
The boba bot makes its tea with premium tea leaves crushed into powder, she said. Making the drink from start to finish takes the robot 90 seconds to two minutes, depending on the quantity of customizations. Beverage options include osmanthus oolong milk tea, grape green tea, mango pomelo, coconut milk black tea, coffee soy milk and coconut milk coffee ($6).
Tsung maintains that customers would not be able to taste the difference between boba made by a human and by the Yo-Kai Express robot.
She said the beverage bot allows people to access “delicious, high quality, authentic bubble tea drinks after all the boba shops have closed.”
“All of our machines are self-contained, and the operators, they really just can leverage their existing team for about 15 minutes a day,” Tsung added.
While the beverage bot in Millbrae focuses on boba, it can also make protein and collagen drinks and mixed cocktails, if the premise has an alcohol license.
Yo-Kai Express has more than 400 ramen vending machines globally, including in office buildings, airports, hotels, casinos and government facilities. More public locations of the beverage bot are in the works, including corporate buildings in Palo Alto, according to Tsung.
“You will be seeing a lot more of our beverage bots around the Bay,” she said. “We aim to be the largest franchise store in the world for our food and beverage bots.”
Yo-Kai Express is also working on a third food robot launching later this year.
Yo-Kai Express, 401 E. Millbrae Ave., Millbrae (at the Aloft Hotel); Instagram: @yokaiexpress. Open 24/7.
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