
Will AI radically change the fast food industry? - finphil
https://medium.com/futuresin/will-ai-radically-change-the-fast-food-industry-7215b122b9c5
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contingencies
I run an R&D operation currently commercializing in the space. Areas of (fast)
food currently under technology-driven change that this article misses
include: overall distribution paradigm (adaptive automated third party
logistics to automated on-demand locations with transparent supply chain vs.
personalized grocery runs and in-store packaging with minimum transparency),
personalization, health and nutrition tracking and integration (broadly "food
as medicine"), and SKINK (shared kitchen / no kitchen).

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bluejellybean
I've been working with my families restaurant to do some efficiency
improvements and this does not surprise me in the least. Their business is a
sit-down/takeout place and in practice it is fairly similar to a fast-food
chain. By far, the largest drain on resources is the grocery runs during
unexpected rushes, ie the time when you need every hand available. Automating
deliveries and curb-side pickups was a legitimately daunting challenge for
them but the results are extremely lucrative. Aside from not losing a worker
for 45 minutes, it allows for smaller/more efficient refrigeration with less
food stuffs going to waste. It's easy to see how the large chains would want
to exploit these type of gains to the max.

The "SKINK" concept, first time I've heard this term, is another aspect that
I've been working on for them as well due to the nature of their business as a
takeout spot. I would be interested to hear what you've been doing in this
area because on the surface it seems highly advantageous. I've done some rough
calculations and from what I've gathered, the margins on their business go
from around 50% to nearly 80% if they were to cut the front-of-house. It also
eliminates the problem of table turn-over.

Aside from the margin gain, the idea of only requiring a kitchen to do
business is curious. Take for example my city, it’s a massive foodie town
where otherwise amazing restaurants come and go simply due to the downtown
leases being extremely expensive. If a takeout spot were able to lease a fryer
and a prep station from a slower downtown sit-down joint, the competitive
advantage they would have is massive.

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contingencies
_margins on their business go from around 50% to nearly 80% if they were to
cut the front-of-house_

Yep. We've developed robotic automation to cut front of house entirely
(payment, packaging, cutlery/napkin provisioning, customer service), chefs
entirely (for our currently supported food categories), plus most rental
overhead (initial sites require only two square meters), further reduce
purchasing costs through combined purchasing, further reduce loss through 100%
electronically managed inventory, and a wholly owned and operated model to
allow for continued innovation going forward. We also support 24x7 operation
and meaningful, deep personalization on every order with 100% consistency and
with a far larger range of cuisine than traditional food retail operations.
That's not to mention environmental, packaging and supply chain efficiency
gains.

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bluejellybean
Thank you for the info, it's very interesting! The space has been filled with
dinosaurs and great to hear about innovations really starting to ramp. I wish
you the best and I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on your progress.

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tomohawk
Probably not as much as dramatically increasing the minimum wage.

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finphil
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments.

