[ipnon]

Would White Castle have more demand with even lower prices? Is price and not quality the factor in most people's decision to eat at White Castle or not? It seems like this won't end well for employees or the corporation because the root cause is that White Castle just isn't that tasty.

[throw_me_up]

Plenty of people find it tasty. Is it $20 burger tasty? No. Is it more tasty than some $20 burgers? Yes. Does it taste like garbage to some people? Yes. Does it taste great to others? Yes.

[seneca]

Well, if they're saving money on labor that money can be spent in better quality ingredients. They could then sell a better quality product at the same cost and increase overall profit by, presumably, increasing sales.

Completely agreed that maintaining low quality is a path to irrelevance for most of these places, regardless of automation.