The Future Of Food Delivery Is Becoming Clearer
While minimum wage amounts rise and labor groups form, some companies are installing kiosks in place of cashiers and planning on adding self-driving delivery vehicles to their operations. For consumers, this could mean less human interaction, fewer tips, pizza cooked in trucks and more. Soon, people won't need to leave their homes to do anything, bringing us one step closer to becoming blobs on hover boards à la Pixar's Wall-E. Here's a look into what food services could look like in the future.
Delivery People On Their Way Out
Self-driving cars have long attracted the eyes of fast food. Business Insider reports that Pizza Hut is partnering with Toyota to launch a pizza-delivering — and possibly cooking — mobile to streamline its business. Vehicle testing may happen as soon as 2020. It's a sad time for retro porn lovers; there's no longer room for that pie with extra sausage (drumroll).
In other delivery news, White Castle is following the leads of McDonald's with UberEats, Wendy's with DoorDash and Taco Bell with Postmates. The chain announced yesterday that its now partnering with Grubhub to offer delivery. Postmates is also partnering with Ford Motor Co. in dabbling with self-driving delivery vehicles.
Never Run Out Of Coffee Again
That is, until climate change renders coffee plants extinct. In the meantime, Illy introduced an app-controlled espresso machine that recognizes when coffee pods have run out and will automatically order more on Amazon. The app also allows users to remotely brew coffee, schedule brewing times and customize cup size and temperature.
Rosie In The Box
Faced with looming wage hikes (fair, livable wages? Oh, the humanity!), Jack In The Box CEO Leonard Comma says "it just makes sense" to replace cashiers with self-ordering kiosks at an industry conference earlier this week.
The California-based chain has tested self-ordering kiosks in the past with success. Wendy's plans to install kiosks to stores in 2018, while McDonald's — which already has these up and running in some stores — will add them to 2,500 more storefronts.