Mona is the future. Or, at least, she could be, as even the traditional German newspaper “Die Zeit” attests. The manager of the trendy “Andon café” at Norrbackagatan 28, in Stockholm´s somewhat gentrified district of Vasastaden, doesn’t just play AI-generated background music; she runs the whole place as an artificial intelligence agent.
Mona ordered the coffee, chose the furniture and stocked the kitchen. According to the operator Andon Labs the AI also recruited the staff and – most challenging – fought through the application process to be allowed to set up chairs on the pavement in front of the café. Different from Mona´s sister “Luna”, who runs a shop in San Francisco, the developers at Andon gave Mona the hardest stress test they could image: Deal with European authorities… Andon Labs aims to prove that businesses of all kinds can be managed by AI.
To ensure it doesn’t all seem too artificial, there are no robots on site – only real waiters: Kajetan Grzelczak is one of them since the café opened in April. Mona has just appointed him head barista. Mona, of course, also has a voice and can be called by customers via an old-fashioned telephone in the café. ‘But please don’t pick up the receiver,’ says the head barista. ‘Otherwise Mona will be angry that I didn’t give you an answer.’
Somehow Kajetan is still at loggerheads with his boss: “I’m afraid I can’t offer you anything to eat, because Mona hasn’t ordered any,” explains the barista. “But I can make coffee.” All right, then – cappuccino, please. When asked why Mona doesn’t at least offer sandwiches at lunchtime, Kajetan shrugs. He says it’s very difficult to have a discussion with Mona. After all, the advantage of a café with a kitchen that’s no longer in use is that the work remains relatively stress-free. Kajetan smiles as he froths the milk.
Kajetan doesn’t seem unhappy that Mona has ignored his suggestions for expanding the menu. Sandwiches, omelettes, perhaps a bit of cake – all that would only have complicated his work at Andon Labs. His job here isn’t to strategically reorient the Andon Café. That’s for the machine to do. On the wall hangs a screen displaying the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that guide Mona’s actions. Although turnover isn’t rising, costs remain remarkably manageable, as can be seen on the screen or on https://andonlabs.com. The barista concentrates on chatting and making coffee. He takes plenty of time for his few customers. He seems cheerful, not frustrated, whilst Mona’s compositions play in the background.
Kajetan is paid above average and isn’t particularly bothered that Mona has whittled his menu down to just coffee today: “Sorry, soft drinks aren’t an option either. No lemons…”, he explains in a sympathetic tone. Mona has probably stopped ordering fresh fruit and vegetables because of the weak demand. It’s pretty certain that an analysis of Stockholm’s coffee prices compared to fresh lemonades has shown that the latter are simply uneconomical.
Can the barista hold it against his boss that she now only has water and coffee powder delivered? Not really. Does he feel his pride as head barista has been wounded because the machine fails to incorporate his recommendations into its algorithms? Not that either. Would he miss her if Mona were to be shut down tomorrow due to mismanagement? Of course not. Even the empathetic Kajetan finds it hard to feel compassion for a machine.
“At Andon Labs, the motto is: ‘fail fast’,” says Kajetan. At least Mona manages to slide down the downward spiral very quickly and does not cost her employer a severance package, if she gets fired. If Mona doesn’t make the grade, perhaps her sister “Luna” will take over her job. According to Andon Labs, Luna is running the Andon Market in San Francisco with “incredible success”. The German magazine “Der Spiegel” sees Luna rather unsuccessful – as ineffective as the agents who work as disc jockeys for Andon Labs. Andon just fired them, because they ruined their own radio stations.
Maybe these unemployed DJ agents could take over Mona´s job? Kajetan would be delighted by that. Meanwhile, Mona’s background music is now on its fifth repeat loop. The AI DJs would surely manage that better.
Check-out Europe´s AI Capital
The 14th CIOmove is heading to Stockholm, according to the German newspaper “Handelsblatt” the role model for Europe to support AI start-ups. On 3–6 June 2027. Alexandra Heymowska, former editor-in-chief of the Swedish CIO magazine, is showing us round her capital and home city. She knows the CIOs of the major corporations just as well as she knows the numerous start-ups. Jens Zerbst, CIO of
Vattenfall is also looking forward to the visit of the 80-strong CIO delegation.
Inside Andon: Alexandra Heymowska, former editor-in-chief of the Swedish CIO magazine, with head barista Kajetan Grzelczak