I envision a cyberpunk_style solution. An automat with robots behind the scenes, drone deliveries and a front that a robot hoses off every few hours.
Lean into fake meat. Protein powders sprinkled onto “the product” like sugars at a coffee stand. Flavor shots.
No push of any button. All from the app, no exception. Just a brick you approach and walk away with whatever product puck that slides out of the machines sphincter onto the floor.
McDonald’s charged 15 cents for a hamburger because the originators used a high-volume, low-cost business model designed around extreme efficiency instead of high profit margins per item.
When Richard and Maurice McDonald reopened their San Bernardino, California restaurant in 1948, they built the “Speedee Service System” to revolutionize fast food.
Several key strategies allowed them to keep prices low:
<><>Eliminated Waitstaff: They removed carhops and table service, requiring customers to walk up and order at a counter, which drastically cut labor costs.
<><>Redesigned Kitchens: They laid out their kitchen like an assembly line to reduce wasted employee movement and speed up preparation time to mere seconds.
<><>Limited Menu: They initially sold only a handful of items—hamburgers (15 cents), cheeseburgers (19 cents), fries (10 cents), and milkshakes or drinks (20 cents)—which simplified purchasing, storage, and prep.
McD’s Relied on High Volume: By making the food affordable compared to standard 35-cent diners, they attracted massive crowds, turning a tiny profit per burger into large overall earnings through sheer quantity sold.