California's $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage May Spur Automation (computerworld.com)

An anonymous readers links to an article on ComputerWorld: For many California business groups, the state's decision to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15 by 2022 is a terrible thing. But for its technology industry, it may be a plus. Higher wages, says the California Restaurant Association, will force businesses to face "undesirable" options, including cutting staff, raising prices and adopting automation. But a higher minimum wage will "signal to tech companies and entrepreneurs" to look at the restaurant industry, said Darren Tristano, president of Technomic, a research group focused on the restaurant industry. The state's governor and legislators reached an agreement Monday to raise the wages. "I think there are a lot of tech companies that are looking at the restaurant industry to accelerate their growth," said Tristano. The restaurant industry is primed for change, said Tristano, "Many of the routines that take place in restaurants are not very different from 30 to 40 years ago," he said.

Comments

Re:Restaurants

[gstoddart]

If you eat in garbage fast food restaurants, that may be true.

But for those of us who like our food to not be some mass-prepared crap, that's far from the case.

If your food is to easy to automate, it's probably not really worth eating.

Oh, and of course if nobody has any fucking jobs these companies will go out of business because nobody can afford to go out -- that is, except for the rich CEOs who cut all the jobs in the first place.

You show me a place in which the kitchen has been mostly automated, and I'll show you a place I refuse to eat at.