As the fight over raising the minimum wage enters the presidential race and unions rile up low-skilled employees to fight to increase it to $15 per hour, fast-food industry workers are facing a harsh reality: they may soon be replaced by machines.
With states like California and New York already increasing their minimum wages, fast-food restaurants have begun researching cost-saving measures. Wendy’s will begin offering self-serve kiosks to all of their franchisees, more than 6,000 locations, in the second half of 2016, Investor’s Business Daily reports.
“McDonald’s (MCD) has been testing self-service kiosks. But Wendy’s, which has been vocal about embracing labor-saving technology, is launching the biggest potential expansion,” IBD reports. “It will be up to franchisees whether to deploy the labor-saving technology, but Wendy’s President Todd Penegor did note that some franchise locations have been raising prices to offset wage hikes.”