Sohaila Restaurant: Holo-Mate is a game changer
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As part of our discovery journey at Holo-mate, we’ve been spending time inside real restaurants, listening to the people who live the hospitality challenge every day. One recent conversation at Sohaila Restaurant in Shoreditch reinforced why this problem matters, and why change is overdue.
On 12 December 2025, we sat down with Natalie, owner of Sohaila, to explore whether Holo-mate could meaningfully support her business. What started as a product discussion quickly turned into something deeper.
“I feel like having this conversation is therapy,” Natalie told us.
“My biggest anxiety is managing staff and making sure the restaurant operates. A few weeks ago, five people got sick at the same time, and it was incredibly difficult to manage.”
Staffing is the single biggest challenge Natalie faces. Most front-of-house staff are on zero-hour contracts, which creates low loyalty and constant churn.
“People leave immediately for slightly higher pay elsewhere,” she explained. “There’s no stability.”
Fluctuating customer volumes make things worse. During peak hours, staff are overwhelmed and service quality drops. During quieter periods, staff are under-utilised, demotivated, and still costly.
Seasonality adds another layer of pressure. Restaurants must hire and train temporary staff for the Christmas rush, only to see demand collapse in January.
“You build a team for December knowing you won’t need them in January, it’s exhausting and unsustainable.”
Beyond staffing numbers, Natalie highlighted a more subtle but critical issue: representation.
“I want people who represent the restaurant, not just collect an hourly wage.”
High turnover means staff rarely absorb the restaurant’s culture, tone, or values. Language barriers further strain customer interactions, especially in busy, tourist-heavy areas like Shoreditch.
Technology hasn’t helped much so far.
QR code menus are a major friction point. Customers find them impersonal and disruptive.
“Pulling out a phone completely breaks the dining experience,” Natalie said. “It feels like the customer is doing the work instead of being served.”
She also shared experiences from restaurants that trialled service robots.
“They’re cute, but they’re slow, they get stuck, and sometimes go to the wrong table. Customers end up fetching food themselves, what’s the point?”
This is where Holo-mate resonated strongly.
Natalie saw clear value in an AI-powered holographic host that restores human-like interaction without relying on physical staff.
“Consistency is impossible with high turnover,” she said. “But a system like this could represent the restaurant properly every time.”
Holo-mate offers a warm, interactive alternative to QR codes while avoiding the operational risks of human staffing. It eases pressure during peak times, removes dependency on unpredictable labour, and ensures the restaurant’s personality is always present.
Natalie also pointed out broader opportunities, particularly in high-volume bars, cafés using QR ordering, and food markets such as Mercato Metropolitano and Mare Street Market.
This conversation reaffirmed our belief at Holo-mate: the hospitality industry doesn’t need colder automation, it needs reliable, human-feeling experiences delivered in a new way.
By grounding our product in real conversations with operators like Natalie, we’re building Holo-mate not as a novelty, but as a practical response to hospitality’s most pressing anxiety: how to deliver great service when people systems keep failing.
We’re just getting started.
To learn more about Sohaila Restaurant, visit - https://sohailarestaurant.com/
