美国国家公共电台 NPR Touch-Screen Self-Serve Taps Take Off As Costs Rise For Bars

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Labor¹ does not come cheap in cities with astronomical² rents, even in the service industry. So some restaurant and bar owners are cutting costs with technology, like devices that allow patrons to serve their own drinks. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE³: Walters Sports Bar in Washington, D.C., is a gleaming new pub just blocks from the city's largest stadium. It's industrial chic⁴ and spacious⁵, with room for hundreds of customers. Tonight, one of them is approaching a stainless⁶ steel wall lined with beer taps and slots for cards where you pay.

CHRIS PORCARO: Honestly - very easy.

ULABY: That's Chris Porcaro describing what it's like to pour himself a yeasty IPA.

PORCARO: This one was a bit foamy⁷. So I have to say I was a little surprised by how foamy it was.

ULABY: You can pour yourself 23 different kinds of beer at this bar - 24 if you count Bud Light. That joke's from owner Jeremy Gifford. He says the technology will cut you off after a few drinks. For more, you must get approved by the staff.

JEREMY GIFFORD: We make sure that you still got your pants on and everybody's still doing OK.

ULABY: Laws that regulate pour-your-own alcohol vary from state to state. This self-serve beer wall cost Gifford $100,000, but he says it'll pay for itself because it means employing fewer bartenders.

GIFFORD: Labor is one of the largest costs in running a restaurant.

ULABY: Self-serve taps are exploding in popularity thanks to increasing staffing expenses, such as mandatory⁸ minimum wage, says Josh Goodman. He runs a company called PourMyBeer.

JOSH GOODMAN: If you have 50 self-serve taps, then you essentially⁹ have 50 employees that you don't have to pay to service your customers.

ULABY: Goodman's company sells self-serve tap systems. It sold fewer than 200 taps in 2015, but in the last four years, he says it's sold more than 5,000 to establishments across the United States.

GOODMAN: The big initiative now is to get them all communicating to one centralized mothership database so then we're gathering¹⁰ all this really unique information about products being dispensed¹¹.

ULABY: Big data meet your beer and your wine and your cocktails¹³ - self-serve wine bars are popping up around the country and automated¹⁴ self-serve cocktail¹² taps for exactly the same drink every time. Josh Goodman says his company's working with Whole Foods, the U.S. military, even companies that do not serve alcohol at all.

GOODMAN: Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks and cold-brew coffee and kombucha. I guess anywhere you see a line, we see an opportunity.

ULABY: At a similar company called Table Tap, business has shot up sixfold since 2016 according to founder¹⁵ Jeff Libby. He points to all the pour-your-own taps popping up at co-working spaces, apartment lobbies and...

JEFF LIBBY: Senior living communities love self-serve beer. We put one in a senior living community and they are crushing it, and they're actually having to cut people off (laughter).

ULABY: Libby admits that cutting out servers in the service industry might feel a little harsh.

LIBBY: I am sure that there are many bartenders that don't like self-serve beer. I know that for a fact.

ULABY: One is here at Walters Sports Bar. But this former bartender, John Murphy, used a self-serve tap to pour a frosty beer.

JOHN MURPHY: I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not going to lie, but I have mixed feelings about it. But I do enjoy being able to just walk over and quench¹⁶ my thirst. And I'm always thirsty (laughter).

ULABY: Cheers, Murphy says, to the machines.

Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 chic   

n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的

参考例句：

• She bought a chic little hat.她买了一顶别致的小帽子。
• The chic restaurant is patronized by many celebrities.这家时髦的饭店常有名人光顾。

5 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

6 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

7 foamy   

adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的

参考例句：

• In Internet foamy 2001, so hard when, everybody stayed. 在互联网泡沫的2001年，那么艰难的时候，大家都留下来了。 来自互联网
• It's foamy milk that you add to the coffee. 将牛奶打出泡沫后加入咖啡中。 来自互联网

8 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

13 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

14 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

16 quench   

vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制

参考例句：

• The firemen were unable to quench the fire.消防人员无法扑灭这场大火。
• Having a bottle of soft drink is not enough to quench my thirst.喝一瓶汽水不够解渴。