The future is now, and it looks like robots squeezing lemons to make Chick-fil-A’s most popular drink.
Chick-fil-A is saving themselves 10 thousand hours of work per day by automating the lemon-squeezing portion of the lemonade-making process.
The machines juice approximately 1.6 million pounds of the sour citrus fruit, after which the juice is shipped off to the restaurant, where sugar and water are added by employees before being served to eager consumers. Prior to the implementation of the robots, restaurant employees were tasked with squeezing the lemons, which sometimes resulted in injuries to hands and fingers.
Aside from saving time and money, the company aims to make working at its restaurants more appealing now that employees no longer have to risk injury to make the famous beverage.
“You start doing the math, and there’s not going to be enough team members,” said Chick-fil-A’s vice president of supply chain procurement and operations, Mike Hazelton. While the robots may have taken some work away from the employees, the new site boasts a workforce of 120 people to help maintain the machines and ensure the juice’s quality. The use of machines in the juicing process has also resulted in a 40% increase in efficiency, and even the oils and peels are generating a new revenue path as Chick-fil-A can send them off to cosmetic and fragrance companies for use.
Chick-fil-A is the latest fast-food company to join the automation trend. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Yum! Brands have begun embracing the potential for “AI-powered” fast food. Yum! Brands operates Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill.
While technology has evolved to make the fast food experience more pleasant, critics of the digital revolution worry that robots will eventually completely box out the need for human employees in entry-level service jobs. However, a Yum! Brands spokesperson explained that “its employees will always play a critical role” despite their desire to look into automation of some business aspects.
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