The cost of running fast food restaurants is becoming very expensive, for many reasons.
The result will be increased use of automation and customer “DIY” systems like app and kiosk and table-side tablets for self order, plus automated food prep and robotic systems to deal with clean up.
A year ago I was in a small Asian restaurant in Salt Lake City that was using a robot to carry dirty dishes from tables back to the kitchen. Another robot carried prepared food plates out to the tables. A waiter then removed the food plates to put them on the table. This tech eliminated the “walk time” spent by waiters, improving productivity. And this was a small restaurant, nothing fancy.
Chipotle is experimenting with robot assisted food preparation. McDonald’s put in DIY order entry kiosks. A huge portion of Starbucks orders now come through their mobile app. Other restaurants have table-side tablets to place your order when you are ready, all without human intervention.
