Dear MEL Topic Readers,
California just hiked minimum wage for fast food workers. Some
restaurants are replacing them with kiosks
As a home of strong industries such as high-tech, entertainment, and
agriculture, California is one of the richest states in the USA. Accordingly, its
cost of living is higher than in other states or countries. For example, a Big
Mac costs nearly six dollars in Los Angeles while it costs less than four
dollars in Tokyo or London. Also, California’s labor movement and worker
advocacy groups are influential on the minimum wage. From this month, the
minimum wage for California’s fast-food workers is raised by $4 to $20, which
is around or over the minimum wage of newly hired United Auto Workers (UAW). The
increase is expected to further accelerate the use of kitchen robots,
self-order kiosks, and online orders. In fact, fast-food chains have found it not
only helpful but also beneficial to use technologies rather than employing human
workers when they have difficulty employing workers after the pandemic. Also, customers
nowadays are more accustomed to ordering and paying by machines than by humans.
In addition, restaurant operators found customers seem to be comfortable using
machines and spend more than conventional order processes. Since food inflation
is already suffering in fast-food restaurants, they are trying harder to manage
the balance between cost, price, and customer satisfaction.
Read the article and learn about a recent minimum wage hike in
California.
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