Nice work, in case you can get it.
Employees at certainly one of Manhattan’s hottest recent takeout spots have it pretty good — they’re knocking down $25 an hour to start out, plus they get sick leave, paid vacations and shortly, stock options.
But in case you stop by Kernel, a vegan restaurant now open on Park Ave. So. and twenty fourth St., you’ll notice the unusually small variety of staffers at the counter going out of their option to leave plenty of the work to at least one, seemingly tireless co-worker.
That’s “El Capitan,” and he totally doesn’t mind picking up the slack— he’s a robot, in any case.
Meet the way forward for fast food, or so former Chipotle CEO Steve Ells hopes — the former burrito bigwig has plunged $36 million in the meatless enterprise, $10 million of it from his own pocket, betting that what customers and employees want is less interaction and higher prices.
The robot, a six-axis arm dreamed up by Kuka, a German firm, can reach greater than three feet and lift 11 kilos with a flick of the wrist. The mechanical macher is at the heart of the food prep process — order a $7 veggie burger made from roasted sweet potato, quinoa and chickpeas, a salad bowl or a side of roasted carrots — the bot can do all of it.
Actually, the humans on duty appear to mostly be present to do their automated overlord’s bidding. Not that there’s anything flawed with that, they are saying.
“That is the first restaurant job I’ve had that doesn’t leave me broken or beaten at the end of the day,” Kernel staffer Carlos De La Concha told Fortune.
Company execs are taking notice.
“Team members are having fun with the experience and automation is making a higher working environment for them and never a worse one,” Stephen Goldstein, Kernel’s president, told Fortune. Kuka has increased efficiency and the employees’ sense of agency, he said.
For now, the restaurant is having fun with zero turnover amongst its staff — a rarity in the business, and definitely in a city like Recent York with an absurd cost of living.
Kernel has been open for somewhat greater than a month, with customers loving the food and the relatively reasonably priced prices — less human-error related instances of food waste, Fortune said, have kept costs lower.
And while the company didn’t show any sales numbers, they did confirm that they’re planning to open roughly 10 restaurants relatively quickly.
The futuristic fast foodery is at the forefront of a brand recent trend towards total restaurant automation — it joins fellow salad slinger Sweetgreen, which has opened two fully-automated stores; in a recent earnings call, the trendy chain noted that those locations were doing higher business than human-run branches nearby.
Coffee shops have also been flirting with the concept of taking out human labor — a Post reporter stopped by the Muji department store at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards this week, where a robot named Jarvis was skillfully crafting cappuccinos at the on-site coffee bar, with a human co-worker stopping by periodically to restock supplies.
And while Jarvis may be more machine than man, he still asked for a tip.