mcdonalds food is terrible. i gave up on it years ago.
What a shame. Putting all those poor illegals out of work...
Suppose I want to order a Big Mac with quarter pounder meat? Will the machine allow me to do so? Of course it would also have extra sauce.
These things are popping up everywhere.
Kids, you better learn a trade skill. Food is out.
Drywall is in.
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!
I’d hope so. Machines don’t unionize or are near as expensive as workers.
What’s the big deal about McDonald’s, Cack In The Box had these kiosks in some stores years ago, but nobody raised a stink about them.
Panera uses iPads with attached card-swipes mounted on a counter top. Sleek and gorgeous. Ordering is a breeze. One restaurant near here has six of them.
Of course, Panera really needs them. For some reason, it takes Panera customers unduly long to give an order to a human, such that it's not worth going in (to a store without iPad ordering) if there's any kind of a line.
Automated fast-food and coffee shops are inevitable given the many problematic issues with hiring and dealing with low-end, unmotivated and uneducated workers, including unfounded worker lawsuits, obamacare, unemployment and workers comp insurance abuse and fraud, ridiculous minimum wage mandates, fascist National Labor Relations Board, obamacare, OSHA meddling and much, much more.
It’s not that difficult to fully automate most fast food operations. The only real issue is at what point it is less expensive to install fully automated mini-food factories in these restaurants than continue production with hand labor.
I suspect in 10 yrs the typical fast food place will have 2 employees per shift, basically to do logistics and sanitation. Each wage increase, additional government regulation of employees, obamacare, sabotage, wildcat strike, “civil disobedience” lawsuit, etc. provides yet another incentive for automation. Pretty soon fast food joints won’t be much more than fully automated self-serve kiosks. There will be a need for an actual employee to load the raw ingredients into the input hoppers from the delivery trucks and someone to haul out the trash and swab the floors at the end of the day.
Coffee shops will probably be the first to go that route. 99.9% of coffee shops already have 100% automated espresso makers that require no more than punching in the number of shots and pushing the “START” button, not too much more difficult to operate than the self-serve soda-pop machines all fast food outfits already have.
My prediction is that in short order the espresso makers will be moved from behind the counter to the FRONT of the counter where customers make their own espresso drinks, completely eliminating the need for a “barista” to push the “START” button for you.
It’s only one more step for the espresso machine makers to add a credit-card swipe unit that auto-charges you for the espresso you make based on the number of shots you dial in.
At that point, the only need for an employee is to load the beans in the hoppers. Big enough hoppers, and that need be done only once a day. At that point, many of these shops can then just be converted into totally self-serve kiosks.
Once this equipment gets built, installed and self-serve shown to be successful, the rest of the country will quickly move in that same direction.
I am an organic employee in sector 7G.... : )
The machine won’t be disrespectful and flippant. Nor will it have facial piercings and chew gum.