[mFixman]

We've had automatic coffee machines since the 1950s, and yet Starbucks employs over 300k people.

Everything being possibly automated doesn't mean everything will be automated. There is always value in human work, even if we are objectively worse at working than robots and AI.

[v-erne]

Imagine cofee shop where You just sit at first empty table, says few words to and hologram and than the food and cofee materializes (let's just ignore the technoloy side of this thought experiment). And after You are finisheed the table cleans itself and bill is automatically settled without any interaction.

Are You sure that in this kind of world cofee shops with real people waiting tables and baristas making cofee would still exist? Because I am not sure that badly paid people are the essential part of Starbucks experience.

[mFixman]

Of course. Human contact is an integral part of the Starbucks experience; otherwise they wouldn't do things like writing your name on the drink or having a million different coffee customisation options.

Your scenario could work with McDonald's, where people go for the cheap convenient food. But the fact that Starbucks exists along with good butchers, grocers, and fancy independent coffee shops is proof that the human factor will always be a crucial part of food shopping.