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Published March 23, 2024 at 7:40 PM ET
Business owners, employees, and New Yorkers are all loving The Colonel, a new vegan fast-food restaurant where robots do much of the work.
Great job if you can get it.
It's one of Manhattan's hottest new takeout joints, and the employees are treated pretty well. You'll start at a reduced wage of $25 an hour, plus sick leave, paid vacation, and soon stock options.
But why not stop by The Colonel, a vegan restaurant now open on Park Avenue? At 24th Street, you'll notice that the number of staff at the counter is unusually low, and they go out of their way to delegate much of the work to her one seemingly tireless colleague.
Much of the work at The Colonel, a vegan fast-food takeout restaurant in Manhattan, is done by the restaurant's robot, nicknamed “El Capitan.”Evan Sun
That's “El Capitan” and he doesn't mind picking up the slack at all. After all, he's a robot.
Witness the future of fast food that former Chipotle CEO Steve Ells wants to see — the former burrito mogul says customers and employees want less interaction and more. He gambled $36 million into his meat-free business, $10 million of which he paid himself. price.
The robot, invented by German company Kuka, has a six-axis arm that can reach more than three feet and lift 11 pounds with a flick of the wrist. Mechanical matchers are at the heart of the food preparation process, so when you order a $7 veggie burger made with roasted sweet potatoes, quinoa, and chickpeas, a salad bowl, or a side of roasted carrots, the bot can do it all. Masu.
In fact, most of the humans on duty seem to exist to carry out the orders of their automated overlords. Not that there's anything wrong with that, they say.
“This is the first time I've worked in a restaurant that I didn't feel broken and devastated at the end of the day,” Carlos de la Concha, a staffer at the Colonel, told Fortune.
Corporate executives are paying attention.
German-made robotic arms do most of the work, supported by just three employees. A view of the preparation area behind the counter at the Kernel on Park Avenue South in New York City. Kernel Kernel crispy chicken sandwich. Fortune reported that food prices are slightly lower due to fewer human errors in areas such as food waste.Evan Sun
“Team members are enjoying the experience, and automation is creating a better working environment for them, not a worse one,” Kernel President Steven Goldstein told Fortune. He says Kuka has increased efficiency and given employees more ownership.
So far, the restaurant has had zero staff turnover. That's unusual in this industry, but certainly in a city with an exorbitant cost of living like New York.
The Kernel has been open for more than a month, and Fortune said customers love its food and relatively affordable prices, which has reduced food waste due to human error and kept costs down.
Former Chipotle CEO Steve Ells founded Kernel with $36 million, of which $10 million was his own.melanie dunia
The company did not disclose sales figures, but did confirm that it plans to open about 10 restaurants relatively soon.
This futuristic fast-food restaurant is at the forefront of a whole new trend toward fully automated restaurants, joining salad sales giant Sweetgreen, which has opened two fully automated stores. In a recent earnings call, the trendy chain said these stores were performing better than nearby human-run branches.
Coffee shops also have the concept of eliminating human labor. A Post reporter visited the Muji department store in Manhattan's Hudson Yards this week. There, a robot named Jarvis deftly makes cappuccinos at the on-site coffee bar. Human colleagues stop by periodically to replenish supplies.
And while Jarvis may be more machine than man, he still asked for a hint.
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