Who Could Have Seen This Coming? Chipotle Tests Out Robot Chip Maker As CA Passes Fast Food Bill

In theory, fighting to increase the minimum wage for fast food and retail workers may sound like a good idea.

Until advocates of raising the minimum wage realize workers will probably be replaced with robots.

In a press release on Monday, Chipotle announced it is “piloting advanced technologies to enhance its employee and guest experience by streamlining operations and reducing friction.”

In Southern 🌴California locations, the restaurant chain is “piloting a cook to needs kitchen management system that provides demand-based cooking and ingredient preparation forecasts to optimize throughput and freshness while minimizing food waste.”

“Leveraging AI and machine learning, the system monitors ingredient levels in real time and notifies the crew how much to prep, cook and when to start cooking, while automatically populating real time production planning for each restaurant,” it added.

Curt Garner, Chief Technology Officer, said, “The new kitchen management system has alleviated manual tasks for our crew and given restaurant managers the tools they need to make informed in the moment decisions, ultimately enabling them to focus on an exceptional culinary and an outstanding guest experience.”

And in worse news for workers hoping to benefit from higher wages, the chain also revealed it is testing out a robot to cook chips.

“CHIPPY, which integrates culinary traditions with artificial intelligence to make tortilla chips, was relocated from the Chipotle Cultivate Center to official installation in-restaurant,” the release said. “Chippy will start cooking chips for guests next month in a Fountain Valley, CA location while the brand leverages its stage-gate process to listen, test and learn from crew and guest feedback before deciding on a national implementation strategy.”