{"id":1794292,"date":"2023-01-03T21:19:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T02:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1794292"},"modified":"2023-01-03T21:19:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T02:19:36","slug":"more-fast-food-chains-invest-in-automation-amid-labor-shortages-minimum-wage-increases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-fast-food-chains-invest-in-automation-amid-labor-shortages-minimum-wage-increases\/","title":{"rendered":"As a result of labor shortages and increases in the minimum wage, there are more fast-food restaurants investing in automation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmore-fast-food-chains-invest-in-automation-amid-labor-shortages-minimum-wage-increases%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1794292&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>As labor shortages continue in the fast food industry, major chains such as White Castle and Chipotle are now employing robots to run their restaurants. The result is that the prices of food have risen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/covid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">COVID<\/a> This can cripple inflation.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/12\/27\/restaurant-chains-are-investing-in-robots-bringing-change-for-workers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a>, automated machines will grill burgers, brew coffee, and welcome customers for a fraction of the cost compared to paying human workers \u2014 as governments nationwide imposed draconian lockdown orders, forcing restaurants to close down temporarily and, in some cases, permanently.<\/p>\n<p>According to the National Restaurant Association, in a report that was reviewed by The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sciencetech\/article-11596161\/Chipotle-White-Castle-spending-500-000-month-ROBOTS-combat-labor-shortages.html?ns_mchannel=rss&#038;ns_campaign=1490&#038;ito=social-twitter_dailymailus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a> Four out of five operators are understaffed since 2020&#8217;s pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>White Castle is said to have begun testing Flippy, an AI-powered kitchen robot made by Miso Robotics out of California. The machine, which is powered by AI, can cook 300 burgers or deep fry potatoes each month for around $3,000 per month. Chipotle, on the other hand hired one-armed robots for making tortilla chips at 73 locations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe highest value benefit that we bring to a restaurant is not to reduce their expenses, but to allow them to sell more and generate a profit,\u201d CNBC interviewed Mike Bell, Miso CEO.<\/p>\n<p>Starbucks spent $18,000 to purchase AI-powered espresso machines at least 1200 locations.<\/p>\n<p>CNBC interviewed David Henkes from Technomic, a principal in restaurant research firm Technomic. He said that automation experimentation would be the future of the industry. \u201csomewhere at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we\u2019re still a very labor-intensive, labor-driven industry,\u201d Henkes said.<\/p>\n<p>Jamie Richardson from White Castle was vice president. He explained to the outlet how other changes such as Coca-Cola Freestyle Machines have had an even greater impact on sales.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes the bigger automation investments we make aren\u2019t as earth-shattering,\u201d Richardson stated.<\/p>\n<p>McDonald\u2019s revealed a test restaurant last month that replaced positions formerly held by employees with automation technology near Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe technology in this restaurant not only allows us to serve our customers in new, innovative ways, it gives our restaurant team the ability to concentrate more on order speed and accuracy, which makes the experience more enjoyable for everyone,\u201d Keith Vanecek, a franchisee, stated in the blog post that he was the one who operated the test restaurant. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/mcdonalds-automated-restaurant-robots-drive-thru-conveyer-belt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> CBS News.<\/p>\n<p>Vanecek\u2019s comment comes after McDonald\u2019s CEO Chris Kempczinski dismissed in an earnings call last summer the idea of total automation any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea of robots and all those things, while it maybe is great for garnering headlines, it\u2019s not practical in the vast majority of restaurants,\u201d He said. \u201cThe economics don\u2019t pencil out. \u2026 You\u2019re not going to see that as a broad-based solution any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Casey Warman, an economics professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, told CNBC he expects automation to permanently shrink the restaurant industry\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce the machines are in place, they\u2019re not going to [sic] backwards, especially if there\u2019s large cost savings,\u201d He said.<\/p>\n<p>Taco Bell and Popeyes have installed AI to take orders. Dominoes has begun testing robotic technology to add sauces, cheeses, and toppings onto its pizzas.<\/p>\n<p>California has increased the minimum wage and automation is now possible in restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>The Golden State increased its minimum hourly wage last year to $15 for employers with 26 or more employees and $14 for employers with 25 or fewer employees \u2014 the highest hourly wage in the nation. This increase is part of the law which raised the minimum wage from $10 an hour in 2017 to $15.50 per hour by 2023.<\/p>\n<p>California Department of Industrial Relations stated in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/dlse\/faq_minimumwage.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a> That \u201cafter the state minimum wage reaches $15 an hour for all employees, the rate will be adjusted annually for inflation based on the national consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical worker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA), signed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act three month ago. This Act created a Fast Food Council that can raise minimum wages up to $22 an hour. This is more than 40% higher than the $15.50 an hour minimum wage, which will take effect this year.<\/p>\n<p>The Congressional Budget Office published a report last year stating that a $15 an hour minimum wage would lead to 1.4 million job losses and 900,000 people being lifted out of poverty.<\/p>\n<p>A wage increase like this would affect 17 millions workers whose salaries would otherwise be below the threshold.<\/p>\n<p><em> This report was contributed by Ben Zeisloft<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Major fast-food chains like White Castle and Chipotle have started employing restaurant robots as labor shortages continue to impact the industry while the price of food increases in the aftermath of COVID and crippling inflation. According to a report, automated machines will grill burgers, brew coffee, and welcome customers for a fraction of the cost &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":1794295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[6425,6202,13133,8489,6478,4832,4561,4131,7255,7601,4562,6195],"class_list":["post-1794292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-automation","tag-daily","tag-fast-food","tag-increases","tag-investing","tag-labor","tag-minimum","tag-restaurants","tag-result","tag-shortages","tag-wage","tag-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1794295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}