China's first AI-aid training base helps meet growing demand for chefs

A chef is an honorable and high-paid profession, but its hard work deters some people from choosing this rewarding job, and it forced the services industry to find a better way out.

Lee Kum Kee (LKK), a 136-year-old Chinese multinational enterprise, quoted a Chinese chef as saying: "We work in high temperatures and confined spaces for long period of time, and the rate of occupational diseases is very high." It noted that most young people do not want to choose this job, or even avoid it.

LKK, whose sauces are exported to more than 100 countries and regions around the world, revealed that, with the recovery of the services sector, the labor shortage in the restaurant industry in China reached 10 million in 2023.

This hiring gap is forcing Chinese enterprises to think of better means for this profession, LKK said.

LKK, as a famous Chinese sauce company, has partnered with Xianglu Technology — an up-and-coming robotics company — to set up the country's first artificial intelligence (AI) chef education base, targeting the growing demand.

They initiated a LKK Hope Chef Public Welfare Program in two partner schools — Beijing Jinsong Vocational High School and Sichuan Province Chengdu Finance & Trade Vocational School, with hope that Xianglu's advanced AI, robotics technology and systematic AI chef certification can help future chefs.

Xianglu provided systematic training on AI chef courses for over 100 students of the program, covering cutting-edge technology trends, principles and practices of AI stir-frying robots and AI recipe development.

A student who passes the assessment will be awarded with an intelligent chef certification issued by Xianglu.

Xiang Jun, director of tourism service cluster of Beijing Jinsong Vocational High School, said: "Facing the AI wave, smart chefs have to think of how to utilize it. Our trainees are predominantly post-2000s, who are very receptive to this tool that combines tradition and modernity."

LKK and Xianglu have also built a platform for AI chef industry-academia-research cooperation, and this was the nation's first vocational education base for AI stir-frying robots.

Ben Zheng, overseas business chief of Xianglu Technology, said the use of intelligent equipment in the "production" link in the catering industry has become more and more common, adding that 2023 is also considered by the industry as the first year of the kitchen "intelligent" century.

Ben noted that this education base is aimed at cultivating chefs in the new era of digitization, and that as a public welfare program, Xianglu will bring more AI and robotics information into the classroom to help students master the most cutting-edge industry knowledge and skills.

While LKK plays an important role in promoting the excellent Chinese food culture worldwide, Xianglu's own intelligent stir-frying robot, MSS, can reproduce the taste of a master and meet the simple desire of consumers to eat freshly stir-fried foods, in addition to solving the FLR (Food cost, Labor cost and Rent cost) problem of the catering business, Ben said.

Ben noted that in 2023, Xianglu's technology has become the choice of some 1,500 catering businesses across the country.

The use of an intelligent stir-frying robot has increased the efficiency of a catering business by 84 percent, Ben said.

Poyang Lake Ecological Catering commented: "Let the chef be responsible for the 'soul' of the dishes and let the machine solve the part of duplicated labor to achieve the balance of the interests of all parties."

Ben added that LKK and Xianglu will play to their respective strengths to jointly promote Chinese food all over the world, and reserve more young talent for Chinese cuisine.

Lai Jieshan, director of corporate affairs of LKK China, said that, as the digital wave of the catering industry is rolling in, the chef trainees need to understand the future trends and master the use of AI stir-frying robots.

"We hope that the new generation of the future can adapt to and take advantage of the trend of catering intelligence," Lai said.

She disclosed that recruitment difficulty is an unspoken fact in the catering industry, especially during holidays such as the Chinese New Year, and under-staffing and reduced speed of food delivery are a norm.

But with the advent of AI chefs, the trend may be reversed, she said.

"Through the combination of chef + intelligent tools, the production efficiency of the entire catering industry will be greatly improved, and the labor shortage can be alleviated," Lai added.

She noted that the LKK Hope Chef Program wants to cultivate more young talent for the Chinese food industry to meet the needs of the industry's development.