Citing the rising cost of labor, the CEO of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s announced he wants to eventually fully automate a Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr. at some point
.”I want to try it,” CEO Andy Puzder said to Business Insider. “We could have a restaurant that’s focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa, where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person.”
Eatsa is an automated quinoa bowl spot, where you order on an iPad and pick up your bowl from a locker, never speaking to a human.
Puzder basically considers robot restaurants an inevitability at this point
“With government driving up the cost of labor, it’s driving down the number of jobs,” he says. “You’re going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants.”
Hell, as long as they don’t replace the models with robots munching on Thickburgers, I’m fine with this.
Although… I wouldn’t mind watching a robot eat a burger. Puzder, too, seems really into robots.
“They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case,” says Puzder of swapping employees for machines.
Yea. FOR NOW.
For now. He also thinks this move will be a boon to millennials.
“Millennials like not seeing people. I’ve been inside restaurants where we’ve installed ordering kiosks … and I’ve actually seen young people waiting in line to use the kiosk where there’s a person standing behind the counter, waiting on nobody.”
Yea, because they’re HIGH. No one wants to talk to a person when high. But if I was stoned and a robot tried to take my order, that would probably slow down service tremendously. I’d have so many questions.
So many. Maybe this is a bad idea.
[Via Business Insider]