Jack in the Box says it's considering swapping some cashiers with self-ordering kiosks and other tech as minimum wages increase.
"As we see the rising costs of labor, it just makes sense," Jack in the Box's CEO said.
Kiosks and other forms of automation are sweeping the fast-food industry.
ORLANDO, Florida â Jack in the Box says it is considering swapping some cashiers with robots as the minimum wage rises in California.
"As we see the rising costs of labor, it just makes sense" to consider adding new automated technology, CEO Leonard Comma said Tuesday at the ICR Conference.
Jack in the Box previously tested technology such as kiosks. According to Comma, the kiosks resulted in a higher average check and helped with efficiency. But at the time Comma said the cost of installing the kiosks wasn't worth it.
But with minimum wages increasing, Jack in the Box is reconsidering the use of kiosks and other technology, Comma said.
Minimum wages areincreasing in 18 states in 2018, including California, where the West Coast-centric Jack in the Box is based. California is on track to become the first state with a $15 minimum wage.
Jack in the Box isn't the only fast-food chain that has considered using automation to reduce labor costs and modernize.
Wendy's announced plans to install self-ordering kiosks within a year. McDonald's is adding kiosks to 2,500 stores, though it pledged not to replace cashiers with kiosks.
Smaller chains such as Eatsa and CaliBurger have been working on automating the entire restaurant experience.
"With government driving up the cost of labor, it's driving down the number of jobs," then Carl's Jr. and Hardee's CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider in 2016. "You're going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants."
jakdak on January 9th, 2018 at 22:08 UTC »
Humans working point of sale retail are going to be decimated once the post-millennial "ipad" generation hits the prime retail 20-30 demographic.
Those kids are going to have absolutely no hesitation ordering from a kiosk or app- and probably will actually prefer it.
Sirisian on January 9th, 2018 at 20:38 UTC »
The kiosks already exist at newer places in Chicago. I went in to a stir fry place the other day and you ordered from a kiosk. From a software development point of view interactive food ordering systems aren't complex to write. A lot of places already have online ordering and could ad-hoc use similar systems. I think a lot of the delay is companies don't think to do it or don't know how to start. An example would be Chipotle that could trivially use a kiosk ordering, but they choose to take orders by voice and run the card for the customer after ordering.
LostAllMyBitcoin on January 9th, 2018 at 20:34 UTC »
McD's will eventually just be 100% automated. Press a button, scan payment, pull up to window, get food. Pushing that button too hard? Order on the app, scan the phone when you pull up, get food.