By Tyler Durden
In yet another awkwardly rational response to government intervention in deciding what's "fair", the blowback from minimum wage demanding fast food workers has struck again. Wendy's plans to install self-ordering kiosks in 1,000 of its stores - 16% of its locations nationwide.
Wright noted that over the past two years, Wendy's has figured out how to eliminate 31 hours of labor per week from its restaurants and is now working to use technology, such as kiosks, to increase efficiency.
"Last year was tough — 5 percent wage inflation," said Bob Wright, Wendy's chief operating officer, during his presentation to investors and analysts last week. He added that the company expects wages to rise 4 percent in 2017. "But the real question is what are we doing about it?"
Wendy's chief information officer, David Trimm, said the kiosks are intended to appeal to younger customers and reduce labor costs. Kiosks also allow customers of the fast food giant to circumvent long lines during peak dining hours while increasing kitchen production.
As Dispatch.com reports, the Dublin-based burger giant started offering kiosks last year, and demand for the technology has been high from both customers and franchise owners.
A typical store would get three kiosks for about $15,000. Trimm estimated the payback on those machines would be less than two years, thanks to labor savings and increased sales. Customers still could order at the counter.
"There is a huge amount of pull from (franchisees) in order to get them," David Trimm, Wendy's chief information officer, said last week during the company's investors' day.
"With the demand we are seeing ... we can absolutely see our way to having 1,000 or more restaurants live with kiosks by the end of the year."
Kiosks are where the industry is headed, but Wendy's is ahead of the curve, said Darren Tristano, vice president with Technomic, a food-service research and consulting firm.
"They are looking to improve their automation and their labor costs, and this is a good way to do it," he said.
Who could have seen that coming? As we noted previously, minimum wage laws - while advertised under the banner of social justice - do not live up to the claims made by those who tout them. They do not lift low wage earners to a so-called “social minimum”. Indeed, minimum wage laws — imposed at the levels employed in Europe — push a considerable number of people into unemployment. And, unless those newly unemployed qualify for government assistance (read: welfare), they will sink below, or further below, the social minimum.
The above originally appeared at ZeroHedge.
This trend provides a great lesson in reality to minimum wage supporters. Assuming they have the mental candlepower and moral fortitude to step outside their fantasy worlds for an instant, that is.
ReplyDeleteIt's so frustrating because these people constantly profess their desire to "help the poor" but they just glaze over when you point out that the minimum wage above all harms the poor. I'm not sure if they view their minimum wage advocacy as too important of a signal of their tolerance to consider giving up or what, but it's absolutely maddening.
DeleteNext stop: Banning automation in restaurants? If not in the in the US, that's what I would expect them to do in France at least (I'm from Germany).
ReplyDeleteI was recently in an Orlando McDonalds. The robots were there. For a brief few moments I looked at it, trying to figure out what to order and how to operate it. A cashier saw my confusion and came over and took my order at a register.
ReplyDelete