Wendy's adds robots to the menu to cut labour costs
The president of Wendy's fast food chain, Todd Penegor, has announced that low-cost employees, such as those who take orders from customers will soon be replaced by self-service kiosks in 10% of its stores. The company also plans to install more networks of mobile ordering and payment to cut down employee hours. As yet, there is no indication of how many people will be affected, however, the company currently has 34k employees paid hourly. McDonald's has also reportedly been experimenting with similar technology on a smaller scale.

Michael Dwyer/AP Photo

Wendy's may sell "old-fashioned hamburgers," but the fast food chain is about to start getting them to customers in a newfangled way.

Citing concerns about the rising cost of labor, Wendy's President Todd Penegor told Investor's Business Daily (IBD) about plans to automate the ordering process in company restaurants. Employees who once took orders from customers will be replaced by self-service kiosks. Mobile ordering and payment apps will also cut down on employee hours.

According to IBD, Penegor says the move is a response to the rising cost of labor for the company. He says it's partly a result of rising minimum wages, but also a consequence of more competition between companies for a smaller pool of workers. The company has found it has to shell out more than it once did if it wants "to access good labor."

Wendy's is not alone in the fast food world in deciding to cut the costs and difficulties of human beings out of its ordering process. McDonald's has been testing similar kiosks on a smaller scale. And the technology is far from new — anyone who's lived in New Jersey or eastern Pennsylvania in the last decade-plus will remember ordering hoagies from touchscreens at Wawa.

The change will come first to company restaurants, about 10% of the total number of Wendy's in the country. Franchise operators, people who own their own Wendy's locations, will have the option of following suit. Wendy's reports that it employed 34,500 hourly employees as of December 2013. No word yet on how many of them will be affected.

Here's the bigger picture: The more repetitive and script-driven your job is, the more it's threatened by the rise of the machines.