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The story
At the all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu chain “Shabu-yo,” complaints resurfaced in October 2026 that other customers were snatching meat being carried by the restaurant’s serving robots. A similar issue made headlines back in February 2025, and this time operator Skylark Holdings announced it will roll out a voice-alert feature across all stores to flag it when someone tries to take another customer’s order. On 5channel threads, people weighed in from all angles — questioning the whole idea of robots doing rounds to multiple tables at once, worrying the same opening used to steal food could be used to contaminate it, and griping that the quality of all-you-can-eat meat seems to drop with every plate.
At the all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu chain “Shabu-yo,” posts claiming that meat carried by serving robots was being taken by other customers have once again been piling up on social media. A similar wave of reports drew attention in late February 2025 too, and at the time, the PR office of operator Skylark Holdings (HD) explained the steps it was taking to prevent a recurrence.
Responding to an inquiry from J-CAST News on October 2, 2026, the PR office apologized, saying, “We sincerely and deeply apologize to the customers we have inconvenienced or made feel uncomfortable.” According to the company, explanations of how the system works hadn’t been fully conveyed despite the introduction of entry-guidance terminals.
Going forward, the company says it plans to strengthen countermeasures, including adding a feature that gives a voice notification when someone tries to take another customer’s order.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
with the Japanese public's level of decency.
Turns out all that "Japanese people are honest and sincere" stuff was a lie.
Japanese people pull this kind of thing the moment nobody's watching.
That alone is gross.
People probably snatch it while it's passing by.
Some robots even drop off two plates at a stop.
It does multiple tables in a single loop.
There's supposedly a display somewhere telling you which tier/shelf to take from.
That's a little scary…
That's the part that gets me.
It'd literally turn into a "shabu" hot pot in the bad sense (シャブ is slang for meth — a pun on the dish's name).
Wouldn't be shocking if some customers these days are out there licking the food too (a nod to the "sushi terrorism" licking incidents).
Sounds like a lot of places now have a "dedicated lane"?
Then why not just change the plate color?
You'd be able to tell when the plates get collected.
They can make them cheap precisely because they skimp on safety mechanisms and security.
The cat robot is made in China, you know.
The fact that Japan can't even build something at that level anymore is honestly pathetic.
does the person who ordered it still have to pay,
while the one who stole and ate it gets off scot-free?
Most of it's on the all-you-can-eat plan anyway.
Whoever took it, that's theft.
The person who got robbed can just order again —
it's all-you-can-eat anyway.
People on the cheapest all-you-can-eat plan stealing meat meant for the premium plan.
Is there really no way to protect yourself?
Just have a human staff member carry it to the table.
Order the cheapest course.
The cheapest meat is safe because nobody bothers eyeing it.
Wait, is THAT what was going on…? If so, I'm never going back.
If the meat keeps getting worse plate after plate, and that first plate actually looked like the pricier cut, you'd probably start thinking "hold on, they gave me the wrong meat earlier!" lol
Or the pattern where it never arrives because the part-timers ate it as their staff meal.
Honestly, you can't tell lol
Even back when humans delivered it, the meat quality would sometimes shift partway through lol
"Whoa, check out this meat!"
"Looks way better than the last batch!"
that kind of thing lol
I think the cat robot has a display somewhere showing which shelf to take from.
Our pride.
There was no self-respect to begin with.
That's exactly why we're America's client state.
I'd say the quality of people started dropping around the Bubble era —
back when Fuji TV and Tonneruzu were on top, and humanities-major girls had their "Ashi-kun, Meshi-kun, Mitsugu-kun" (bubble-era slang for guys kept around to chauffeur them, treat them to meals, and shower them with gifts).
Background and talking points on this story
This problem first made news back in February 2025, and Skylark HD had already explained its preventive measures at that time. Even so, the same kind of trouble kept recurring, so in October 2026 the company acknowledged that its entry-guidance terminals hadn’t adequately explained the system and announced it would add a feature that gives a voice notification when someone tries to take another customer’s order. That feature, however, has not yet been rolled out to all stores, and as of now there’s no mechanical safeguard actually stopping the theft. Opinions on the thread split mainly two ways: those taking issue with the robots’ table-rounds system itself, and those complaining about declining meat quality in all-you-can-eat dining in general — with the latter drifting into topics not directly tied to the serving robots. Some pointed out that many serving robots are Chinese-made, but that’s worth flagging as speculation within the thread, not an officially stated cause of this particular trouble.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (News Express+) thread “[Shabu-yo / All-You-Can-Eat] Serving-robot “premium-course meat theft” problem flares up again — operator to roll out voice alerts for taking another customer’s order chainwide.”
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