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Per other articles, the restaurant basically employs nearly as many employees as any normal store. The automation is for order taking and delivery (conveyor belt), not cooking.

Basically it eliminates the human interaction component for customers, but humans are still doing all the cooking, assembly, and packaging.

Think similar to a 1920s automat, but with mobile ordering and drive thru.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/23/mcdonalds-a...

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That's what I thought I recalled. Like, am I the only one who'd disappointed with the lack of real advancement in automation in this space in my lifetime? I do think the online/kiosk ordering systems are nice, but it doesn't seem like it moves the needle all that much.

Also, for what fast food costs these days, I can go to a local sit-down restaurant with a friend, briefly talk with a waiter, and talk to the checkout lady for a minute because we're regulars there and have a very pleasant lunch. I don't exactly long for human interaction at McD's but if we're going to go full automated dystopia (or just pretend that we have by removing all human interaction from the process), then I think it could be a lot cheaper.

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