Expert calls on employers to retrain employees to work with machines that 'don't just run forever'
As more restaurants turn to robots to do work traditionally done by humans, one expert is calling on employers in the food services space to provide retraining for workers.
These new technological advancements could be an opportunity for companies to elevate human workers to more customer-facing roles or managerial positions, said Dr. Robin Yap, a professor of management at George Brown College, in a CBC report.
They could also give employees technical training, he said.
"Maybe they now become the technicians for the robots because ultimately you need maintenance. I mean, these are machines, they don't just run forever.”
How many restaurants have robots?
In December 2023, McDonald’s announced it is partnering with Google to build out an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that would help restaurant workers during their shifts.
Called “Ask Pickles”, the chatbot will help workers get quick answers on questions they might have, including how to clean an ice cream machine, according to a previous BNN Bloomberg report.
This technology is far from being the only robot working in the restaurant industry.
Domino's is trying out a pizza-making machine at one of its locations in Berlin. And White Castle has implemented mechanical arms Flippy to flip burgers and french fries cooker Chippy, at locations across the U.S, noted CBC.
Even local restaurants are trying this out, according to the report.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is also experimenting with a machine called Autocado, which cuts ores and scoops avocados. The employer even plans to implement AI capabilities into the technology to evaluate the quality of avocados without human assistance.
However, while this technology will free up workers from doing repetitive tasks, robots will not replace all workers at Chipotle since there are just some things machines can't do, said Curt Garner, Chipotle's chief technology officer.
"They don't learn like humans do. They're not as adaptive to a change in an environment,” he said in the report.
Industrial robots could potentially replace 82%of jobs, CBC reported, citing one forecast by industry consultants Aaron Allen & Associates.
By 2021, more than 250,000 restaurant workers had already quit to find new careers, CBC noted, citing a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
And the rapid growth of AI would expose almost 40% of global employment, according to another report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
