Taiwan’s hotpot industry generates an estimated NT$40 billion a year, making it one of the largest segments in the country’s food and beverage market. But like much of the F&B sector, it continues to face a serious labor shortage, leaving store managers under pressure and frontline operations short-staffed.
To help address that gap, WiXtar, the F&B technology brand under the BenQ Qisda Group, has teamed up with 6owl Door to unveil what it says is the world’s first Agentic AI hotpot store at COMPUTEX 2026.
The concept brings together front-of-house service, back-of-house management, and corporate decision-making through a “24/7 AI Store Manager,” showing how Agentic AI can move from concept to real-world deployment in F&B.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor, wages in the F&B industry rose 7.5% in 2025. Even so, hiring shortages and high turnover remain a bigger problem than pay alone.
As 6owl Door General Manager Lee Yu-hsuan put it, the real challenge for chain restaurants is the constant churn of new employees and the pressure that places on store operations. From staffing and inventory planning to sales forecasting and anomaly detection, many of the most difficult tasks are exactly where AI can add the most value.
At the heart of the system is an AI patrol robot that runs around the clock. Using 360-degree panoramic imaging and vision-language model-based scene recognition, it captures and analyzes store conditions, then turns those insights into actions through WiXtar’s AI decision-making platform.
The system also adjusts its checks based on meal periods, handling sanitation and grooming audits before service, monitoring cooking volume during peak hours, and overseeing safety and disaster-prevention tasks after closing. That takes a significant load off frontline staff.
On the customer side, WiXtar’s AI self-ordering kiosk is designed to work more like a sales assistant than a simple ordering terminal. With QR ordering and scene recognition, it can spot hesitation or friction during the ordering process and guide customers with menu suggestions and set-meal recommendations. The goal is to raise average order value while reducing pressure on FOH staff.
For store operators, the AI decision-making platform acts as a command center. By connecting transaction data, membership information, inventory, and ERP systems through D8AI’s AI Agent Builder, it can generate recommendations for ingredient prep, labor scheduling, real-time sales tracking, and post-shift improvement planning. The result is a more data-driven operating model, where local stores and headquarters can respond faster and more precisely.
WiXtar is also bringing AI into ordering and receiving. By combining sales history, weather data, holidays, and budget targets, the system can generate smarter order suggestions. When goods arrive, vision-based recognition checks deliveries against records and completes verification automatically, reducing manual entry, improving traceability, and helping cut food waste and operating costs.
The company says it is already using its Asia-Pacific integration capabilities to help roll out this model across more than 47,000 chain outlets. WiXtar is showcasing these solutions as part of BenQ Qisda Group’s COMPUTEX AI IN ACTION exhibition zone at TaiNEX 1 in Taipei, from June 2 to June 5, underscoring the group’s push into AI solutions and smart manufacturing.
Leadership Comment
According to WiXtar CEO May Kang, the company sees this as part of a broader shift in SaaS. In the age of Agentic AI, software is no longer just about licensing tool it is increasingly about delivering measurable business outcomes. WiXtar says its data-driven platform is now helping brands improve replenishment accuracy, increase order volume, and build AI infrastructure that can be put to work at scale.
Exhibition Information:
Date and Time: June 2, 2026, to June 4 9:30 – 17:30. June 5 9:30-15:30.
Venue: Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1 (No. 1, Jingmao 2nd Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei City)
Booth Name: BenQ Booth Number: M0104 (4F)
Participating Companies at COMPUTEX 2026 of BenQ Qisda Group:
BenQ Corporation, Qisda Corporation, AEWIN Technologies, Alpha Networks, APLEX Technology, Arivor Technologies, DATA IMAGE, DFI, D8ai, Grandsys, MetaAge, Partner Tech, URSROBOT, WiXtar
