[mywittyname]

> will it lower demand for work?

Commoditization of Compliments.

If it's cheaper to make food using automation, then some complimentary component of food service is going to capture some of the dollars saved. For example, we could see food trucks that make your food while en route and the truck pulls up and delivers it fresh.

Or, more simply, we could see commissaries/"ghost kitchens" capable of serving a larger variety of food with fewer people pop up in suburban strip malls. Maybe they could have a rotating menu. A small restaurant like that could pull down a few million in revenue each year even in less populated states, which is more than enough to pay good wages if the number of operators can be kept to <4 people.

Most of them now have several operators making a limited selection of food.

[0ldskool]

Couldn't we have self-driving food trucks, each specializing in a specific food? People could have events and schedules a couple of food trucks to drive by while cooking food on the way. Fast food takes on a new meaning (fast vehicles cook+deliver food on demand).

No more need for fast food restaurants because they just can transformed into a fleet of trucks.