I know an engineer who was hired to work on designing an automated burger cook station in 2006. It was for one of the major chains. To my knowledge it has never been deployed. Either it never worked right or current minimum wage still makes the old way a better deal.
In San Antonio, I have been to two different Jack In The Cracks which had automated ordering kiosks which allowed you to order your food without ever dealing with an employee until they brought out your food.
It is only a matter of time before there will be only two or three people running an entire shift at the local Mickey D’s! And we, the customer, probably will never actually, directly interact with them!
That'd be my guess.....
the gas chain "Sheetz" down here has automated order-taking. You then take the slip to the counter to pay (a step that could be EASILY eliminated) and one or two people in the back make the food.
It wouldn't be a stretch to eliminate a large number of the people that work behind the counter in a Fast Food Joint. If this "living wage" nonsense comes off, it'll happen in a New York Minute.