[mehrshad]

Back in the early 2010s, I was consulting with a then-budding startup called Momentum Machines (now Creator.rest), in which I was tasked with market validation for their Rube Goldberg-esque 6mx1mx2m burger-making machine (not a robot). When I'd speak with both independent and multi-franchise QSR owners, the resounding sentiment was that they absolutely craved an automated solution to replace line cooks, but they could not imagine replacing cashiers, who they believed were the face of the brand.

But in speaking with the few corporate offices that would bother to even respond to us, we'd be brushed us aside as nothing more than a novelty, as they considered any introduction of automation anywhere in the food-assembly process to be a hit to their brand promise of "freshness" and "quality."

Now with the Great Resignation giving employees a bit of an upper hand, I'm pretty sure the corporates are changing their tune in displacing the $15+/hr/unit meat suits ASAP. They're just waiting for the regional/tier-3 QSRs like White Castle to go all-in before making the plunge themselves.

[0] https://www.creator.rest

[syntheweave]

I would hazard a guess that the economics of franchising made it so that corporate's priority was for franchisees to be dependent on their existing centralized and proprietary systems (equipment, supplies, etc.) - and therefore unless you could carve out a sweetheart deal like the unmaintainable McFlurry machines you were not desirable. After all, introducing anything new is just a risk to the existing, profitable business model. Much like how working from home was "impossible" until it was required.

Fast food has been in need of a shakeup for some time, anyhow. The quality bar across restaurants as a whole has kept getting pushed upwards but there's hardly any difference between the fast food chains of 1980 and now, other than brand designs, a token "healthy" option, and recipe changes for cost.

[seanmcdirmid]

> but they could not imagine replacing cashiers, who they believed were the face of the brand.

I love places with ordering kiosks (or places that let me order using my phone). It's like going to the supermarket, I'd rather wait in line to order myself even if a real person was available to take my order right away.

But that auto fruit has mostly been picked already (at many places at least). McDonalds is even getting rid of its front line cashier staff now at many locations (with just one person to occasionally take cash from those who don't want to pay with a card).

[asdff]

Whoever you were talking to back then were probably just pretty closed minded and set in the ways of their industry. I think if you were to have these discussions today there would be a lot more people biting since there are some examples already of automated restaurants. Customers will pay extra for this novelty and you can even continue to price your item at a premium point while reaping the savings on real estate and labor:

https://sprinkles.com/