First Hand Experience on the Future of Fast Food
When you make the plan to go to a fast food restaurant, you want your food to be hot and ready, and you also want to be in the line as little as possible. There’s is a reason why it is called fast food, and the future of this business relies on the ways they can make food preparation more efficient. The quickest and easiest way to get fresh food out the window to make the customers happy is the number one goal of each of these franchises. With the new innovations in technology and the increased reliance on it, implementing more and more artificial intelligence could be the next step to make fast food businesses that much more efficient. By implementing the technology, you eliminate the need to pay for employees and the need for employees at all.
Over the past three years, I have had my fair share of experience as a part-time employee at Tim Horton’s. I have seen the ins and outs of what to expect from the inside of the business, and I believe that it is one hundred percent possible to implement artificial intelligence as an alternative to humans. There have been improvements in strategies to make the transfer of food, creation of food, and the access to food that much easier, and we are getting closer and closer to the next big change.
What changes have already been made?
It started with the switch to the online ordering system and the development of the downloadable app on smart phones. At Tim Horton’s, we have historically mailed out coupons to promote the sale of our services, but we have shifted to a more online focus. At the check-out window, you can now scan your phone and have access to new rewards, deals and promotions. Next, we saw the update to having the delivery services and the preorder system that allows you to order before you arrive. Now, you can order on the app and have your order ready when you arrive so there is no wait time at all.
What changes can be made in the future?
I believe that we are in the midst of the new way of life and work as move further into the year 2020. Tim Horton’s is just the restaurant that I had happened to work at, but the future of fast food is within our reach. Starting with the payment method, you can now press your card on a scanner and it will pay right away for the order. Seeing this now, I believe that the need for cashiers will go down in the future because of the ways you can pay today. We are seeing less and less of the usage of cash as a payment method, and there are ways you can pay without even giving your card to anyone. You can have a scanner on the outside of the drive thru window, and if you use your card, you can pay in less than 5 seconds. The goal of the drive thru is to get you in and out as quickly as possible, and this can definitely help.
Robots are only in the experimentation period, but I believe the next step is having extremely efficient robots who can make food and drinks in seconds. There will be an invention in the future which will allow for the making of anything we want by the click of the button. If we can develop systems that memorize every possibility of an order and can make it quickly, we wouldn’t need any human workers in a restaurant (other than a management team). By having artificial intelligence take over and speed up the process of food prep, we could see a new wave of unemployment, and a shift in the job market in the future.
That being said, there is definitely something to be excited about in regards to the change in business. We could see a complete shift from employee to robot, and it is only a matter of time before someone figures it out. I have worked in the environment, and when I say this is completely possible, believe, it is.
