$15 minimum wage directly contributing to fast-food industry's automation push

quote:

---

Former McDonald's CEO warns $15 minimum wage directly contributing to fast-food industry's automation push

LINK

Former McDonald's CEO Ed Rensi is warning that the fight for a $15 minimum wage is directly contributing to the restaurant industry's push toward automation.

Last month, McDonald's announced plans to raise the starting hourly wage range to $11-$17 per hour for crew and $15-$20 per hour for shift managers. The fast-food chain noted in its wage hike announcement that it planned to hire 10,000 new employees over the next three months.

However, McDonald's current CEO Chris Kempczinski confirmed during Alliance Bernstein's Strategic Decisions Conference last week that the company is testing an automated, voice-recognition based drive-thru ordering system at 10 of its Chicago locations. Kempczinski noted that the artificial intelligence technology has 85% accuracy with filling orders, with workers having to step in for approximately one in five orders.

"There's a big leap from going to 10 restaurants in Chicago to 14,000 restaurants across the U.S., with an infinite number of promo permutations, menu permutations, dialect permutations, weather - and on and on and on," Kempczinski said, according to a conference transcript from FactSet obtained by Nation's Restaurant News. "Do I think in five years from now you're going to see a voice in the drive-thru? I do, but I don't think that this is going to be something that happens in the next year or so."

A McDonald's spokesperson declined to comment on how many jobs the move will impact. A representative for the National Owners Association, which represents McDonald's franchisees, did not immediately return FOX Business' request for comment.

---