Robot arms will probably play a big role in the future not sure how much in the restaurant industry. But this startup https://www.wired.com/2017/01/cafe-x-robot-barista/ is the best use I have seen in our industry. Interesting enough they are using Franke espresso machines the same ones we use in McDonald's I would not mind one of the arms in my McCafe booth. But instead, I am spending money remodeling 4-year-old lobbies.
How cost effective is replacing an organic employee with a mechanized one? According to an economic blog, and unsurprisingly, the machines likely come out on top in terms of pricing: • For a location open 24 hours: The cost of human cashiers, not counting benefits, $15/hour * 24 hours * 365 days/year = $131,400 • For a location open 6AM to Midnight: $15/hour * 18 hours * 365 = $98,550. • For the machine to be cost effective, all it needs to do is cost less than $100,000 a year to buy and maintain. Who could’ve possibly seen this coming? Forbes. They predicted this exact scenario last July.
Doubling of labor costs will simply increase a fast food restaurant’s incentives to adopt technology like this. And if fast food wages doubled everywhere it would spur the development of these technologies even faster.This is all basic economics, really. As costs of labor increase the added cost must be offset. In order to satisfy operating costs, produce a product consumers want to purchase, and still turn a profit, it’s perfectly reasonable for a company like McDonald’s to look for cost-cutting alternatives. As Forbes pointed out, the added pressure to increase wages only serves to expedite technological solutions. But cooks are safe from the machination of American fast food, right? Not if companies like Momentum Machines has anything to do with it. “Our technology will democratize access to high quality food making it available to the masses,” their site claims. They also claim their burger making machines can, “do everything employees do except better” and that the machines reap such large labor savings, restaurants will be able to afford twice as fancy ingredients. Tempting little proposition they have there.
“Would you like fries with that?” may soon be a long forgotten relic of American pop culture. And all because it makes good economic sense.
4 comments:
Robot arms will probably play a big role in the future not sure how much in the restaurant industry. But this startup https://www.wired.com/2017/01/cafe-x-robot-barista/ is the best use I have seen in our industry. Interesting enough they are using Franke espresso machines the same ones we use in McDonald's I would not mind one of the arms in my McCafe booth. But instead, I am spending money remodeling 4-year-old lobbies.
How cost effective is replacing an organic employee with a mechanized one? According to an economic blog, and unsurprisingly, the machines likely come out on top in terms of pricing:
• For a location open 24 hours: The cost of human cashiers, not counting benefits, $15/hour * 24 hours * 365 days/year = $131,400
• For a location open 6AM to Midnight: $15/hour * 18 hours * 365 = $98,550.
• For the machine to be cost effective, all it needs to do is cost less than $100,000 a year to buy and maintain.
Who could’ve possibly seen this coming? Forbes. They predicted this exact scenario last July.
Doubling of labor costs will simply increase a fast food restaurant’s incentives to adopt technology like this. And if fast food wages doubled everywhere it would spur the development of these technologies even faster.This is all basic economics, really. As costs of labor increase the added cost must be offset. In order to satisfy operating costs, produce a product consumers want to purchase, and still turn a profit, it’s perfectly reasonable for a company like McDonald’s to look for cost-cutting alternatives. As Forbes pointed out, the added pressure to increase wages only serves to expedite technological solutions.
But cooks are safe from the machination of American fast food, right? Not if companies like Momentum Machines has anything to do with it. “Our technology will democratize access to high quality food making it available to the masses,” their site claims. They also claim their burger making machines can, “do everything employees do except better” and that the machines reap such large labor savings, restaurants will be able to afford twice as fancy ingredients. Tempting little proposition they have there.
“Would you like fries with that?” may soon be a long forgotten relic of American pop culture. And all because it makes good economic sense.
I would change name to Patti Les Turnover.
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