“Would you like fries with that?” What you just read is a question, an economic cost, but also arguably a symbol of the difficulties fast-food restaurants have long faced.
How to find good, conscientious and energized individuals willing and eager to ask “Would you like fries with that?” In particular, how to find those individuals at a time when work options for the labor eligible expand by the day?
These questions speak to the onrushing genius of AI. As opposed to destroying entry-level work, AI is poised to substantially improve the quality of it, and by extension the compensation associated with it.
To understand why, consider a recent report in the Wall Street Journal about Yum Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc.), and its planned partnership with Nvidia. Yum’s technologists are collaborating with Nvidia on “AI-powered voice ordering” technology that will replace human-order takers.
To which some will say contra this opinion piece, AI is poised to render human input in fast food irrelevant. Which misses the point.
Instead, the order-taking technology will free entry-level workers from doing what they increasingly do not want to do, which is to take orders ahead of upselling customers on the various menu items. What replaces humans doesn’t put them out of work as much as it frees them to do the work they want to do. Yes, specialize.
Specializing not infrequently means not doing what you don’t want to do, what doesn’t fit your skills and personality, or all three. Which means machines replacing humans will propel humans fortunate enough to benefit from AI into much better work options all the while greatly improving the restaurants eager to automate tasks formerly performed by humans.
It’s good business strategy because as the Journal report indicates, “Consumers end up spending more when they buy via digital channels” exactly because the restaurant “can upsell, personalize and entice eaters through notifications.” In other words, machines are better at divining customer wants, and perhaps less shy or embarrassed than humans are when it comes to asking if you want fries with that.
The potential meaning of this for restaurants is profound. If they can both improve and mechanize the order-taking process they can save a lot of money and time when it comes to hiring drive-thru and counter employees not jazzed about taking orders, and possibility not curious enough about customers to better understand or lead their wants. Which means restaurants get lower front-of-the-store labor costs combined with more productivity. And that’s just in the order-taking process.
The machines will be able to process many more orders quite a bit faster. Which means restaurants will win twice as labor costs go down in concert with much greater volume and size of order.
Which is where humans come back in. With the front-of-store work automated, restaurant employees will be free to narrow their focus to the creation of the meals that bring customers to restaurants in the first place. Specialized workers are much more skillful and productive, which means the fast-food restaurant workers of tomorrow will be positioned by AI to produce a great deal more in the way of meals in much more enticing fashion.
Meaning, food preparation at fast-food restaurants will soon take on qualities that will render the workers within them specialists instead of short-order cooks. Which means AI will both improve the work at fast-food restaurants all the while making it more desirable and remunerative.
Such is the genius of human capital matched with capital. The latter shrinks the tasks foisted on the former on the way to soaring work satisfaction borne of workers performing the tasks most associated with their skills. Look ahead optimistically. AI is positioned to make all sorts of work cool.
