Fast food CEO investing in machines because he can't afford to pay workers

This article, like many of this type, let's the business be in control of the content. When this happens, the article is much closer to a press release than an informative news report. But hey, what should I expect in this day of free^H^H^H^H advertiser-paid journalism?

Self-serve restaurants have been around for over a century. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat .

Thus, if a fast-food executive says that it's too expensive to pay employees, a perfectly reasonable question should be "if employees are too expensive, how is it that fast-food replaced automats in the US? And did so in an era when the effective minimum wage was higher than now?"

FEBO is a popular fast-food company in the Netherlands with an automat component. You'll note that the Netherlands has a national minimum wage of 1,508 € per month. The US national minimum wage is 1,155 € per month. (From http://countryeconomy.com/national-minimum-wage ). There are many non-automat fast food companies, including Burger King and McDonalds.

Thus, if a fast-food executive says the minimum wage is too high to pay employees, a perfectly reasonable question should be "if the minimum wage is too high, how come fast food restaurants are profitable and even in countries with a much higher minimum wage and competition from companies with automats?"