Chinese kitchen robots: exports hit $470 million, up 51 percent

Catering robots dominated the CIFTIS 2026 services trade fair in Beijing. 环球时报, citing 凤凰网, describes a queue forming in front of a nearly ten-meter mobile kitchen truck from 京东七鲜小厨. The air smelled of fried pepper and meat. One worker operated three machines. He selected the recipe for 炒土豆丝 (fried potato strips) on a screen, added the ingredients, and the dish was ready in about three minutes. "Fast dishes take two or three minutes, slower ones do not go past five," the operator says.

熙香科技 displayed a different model. In smart kitchens for companies, schools, and hospitals, robotic arms and vision algorithms handle the process from delivering prepared vegetables to cooking, synchronized with the production plan. City manager 云龙 says a canteen serving 1,000 people and nine dishes a day can run fully unattended. At the Zhongguancun fair, the 无界动力 K15 robot moved between cafe tables, delivering coffee, collecting waste, and disinfecting countertops.

Exports and foreign markets

The Chinese industry is already exporting. The report 《全球及中国餐饮机器人产业投资咨询报告》 puts the export value of Chinese catering robots at $470 million in 2025, up 51.3 percent year on year. Main destinations include Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Reuters, cited by the newspaper, reports that unattended cafes, noodle bars, and flower shops are spreading fast in South Korea. Their number reached about 9,000 at the end of 2024.

"A thousand shops, one taste"

Companies are also racing for taste consistency. 华声在线 describes 芯厨师 robots in Changsha, Hunan province, preparing pepper with meat in 2 minutes 17 seconds. A quick stir-fry takes 1 minute 30 seconds. Founder 廖辉 launched the brand in 2021. In 2025, the team completed five product iterations, rolling out the fifth generation. Today, the main product is in its seventh generation. The devices work in more than 200 cities in China and more than 20 abroad, accounting for 15 to 20 percent of sales. The company highlights the vessel size: a 50-centimeter cast-iron wok with a 23-liter capacity holds 5 kg of product at once. Most competitors handle 1.5 to 3 kg. Industry data cited by the newspaper indicate that more than 60 percent of Chinese restaurant chains lost customers during expansion due to unstable taste.

The home version

The technology is moving into home kitchens. 人民网 reports that pre-sales began in Wuhan on 24 September 2026 for Haier's fully autonomous CR3 kitchen robot. The device has a power of 3,500 W and keeps the wok temperature between 140 and 180 degrees Celsius, a range considered key to "wok hei," the Chinese flavor note. It includes more than 600 digital recipes and six nutrition systems, including a low-sodium option for seniors and a high-protein one for people who train. A 2026 study by 艾媒咨询 indicates, however, that the market's biggest weakness remains the gap in taste and searing degree compared with hand-prepared dishes.