I know an engineer who was on a project about ten years ago. He was sworn to secrecy by his employer, but he let me know privately that the project was to develop an automated cook station for Wendy’s.
It never did go into production. He said they kept running into technical problems they couldn’t solve. That and Wendy’s started to feel the political heat after Obama became POTUS.
By now I guess the basic tech problems have been solved.
Sheetz already uses touchscreens to take your orders. It wouldn't be much to add a CC swipe to them.
Touchscreen ties direct to the "Automated Cook Station". Your food gets processed - the same way, to the same standards and same temperature, correctly, every single time - dropped in a bag and passed to you. Other than when machines are restocked, no human hands touch it.
Pay a 2-3 techs to maintain the robots 24/7, a handful more people to keep the machines stocked and to mop up occasionally, and a few people to manage the whole thing. Cuts labor for several stores by what - 75%? More? Especially at a mandated $15/hr.
This is where we're headed, and progressive idiots are pushing us there.