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Fast Food Robots
The next platform shift in fast-food restaurants could be automation.
Kieran Ryan
August 07, 2024
In partnership with
Good morning, Nerders. It’s Wednesday, August 7th. In today’s newsletter, we cover:
The next platform shift in fast-food restaurants could be automation
Today’s housing market: higher prices, slower sales
Regulating the prison phone industry
TODAY’S STORY
The average hourly earnings for restaurant workers have risen by 66% since 2017, primarily stemming from changes to minimum wage laws.
To offset rising labor costs, the first order of business was raising menu prices. The second order of business is automation:
Chipotle is testing robotics to assemble bowls and salads while Chipotle employees operate the top makeline to make burritos, tacos, and quesadillas
Sweetgreen’s salad-shooting robots are already in two restaurants, and they have plans for nearly a dozen more this year
Jack in the Box’s Flippy robots are helping them cook french fries
While the fast-food robot movement has had many false starts, the macro environment and advancements in robotics make it plausible that we’re very close.
DATA BYTES
The price of single-family homes is up 39.8% over the past 4 years, while the monthly annualized sales rate is down 33.8%
This dynamic is mostly due to a lack of available inventory, as homeowners don’t want to trade out of their 3% mortgage rates to take on a new mortgage at ~7%
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Regulating the prison phone industry
@boringbusinesskieran prison phone calls // make sure to follow me to keep up with the latest business stories and trends #business #prisontiktok #foryou
PREVIOUS STORIES
Lamborghini’s Hybrid Models — How Lamborghini’s hybrid strategy helped shield them from volatility in the EV market.
Compounded Ozempic — A new threat to Ozempic and Wegovy emerges…
McDonald’s $5 Meal Deal — Fast food chains are offering new deals to attract budget-strapped diners.
The Freight Crisis — Wayfair and others with global sourcing exposure could be the most at risk.
Uber vs. Lyft — Uber is doubling down on shared rides while Lyft eliminates them.
To read the web version of previous stories, click here
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Thanks for reading,
Kieran & Justin Ryan
