Trump’s Labor pick revives burger-flipping robot image

But sentiment doesn’t square easily with realities of industry.

NEW YORK — It’s a scenario often invoked by critics of minimum wage increases: Fast-food workers replaced with burger-flipping robots.

The imagery resurfaced when President-elect Donald Trump named Andrew Puzder to head the Labor Department. Puzder, CEO of the company that owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, is known for saying significant wage hikes would lead to job losses and the automation of some tasks.

But the sentiment does not square easily with the realities of the fast-food industry.

Despite local minimum wages hikes, the number of fast-food jobs has climbed, and many employers say they’ve had difficulty retaining workers as the economy improves.

Restaurant chains, including McDonald’s and Olive Garden, are indeed rolling out options like ordering kiosks and tabletop tablets. Those changes may eventually reduce or change the nature of restaurant jobs, but stem more from the industry adapting to customer habits, and are likely regardless of wages.

Puzder said as much to The Associated Press last year. “I think over time it would’ve happened anyway because of consumer preferences,” he said about ordering kiosks.

His argument is that higher labor costs speed up such changes. But he has also cited better technology as a factor, noting the popularity of Amazon, Uber and ordering pizza online.

For restaurant companies that have embraced forms of automation, the primary goal has been improving service to increase sales.

“Frankly, technology is something that our customers are embracing, whether it’s through their phone, or whether it’s through self-ordering kiosks. That’s a societal trend. We want to adapt to that,” McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook said at the company’s annual meeting.

Where possible, Easterbrook said, automating basic tasks was “the smart thing to do.” But he said McDonald’s would always have the human element that “brings service to life.”

For now, McDonald’s has ordering kiosks in about 500 of its more than 14,000 U. S. locations. In those stores, the service model includes employees bringing food to tables.

Chains, including Starbucks and Panera, say people who use options like mobile payment apps and online ordering tend to visit more frequently and spend more.

Blaine Hurst, president of Panera, said those who think about technology as a way to cut costs, rather than improve service, “not only miss an opportunity, but do your guests a disservice.”

If anything, the restaurant industry has been slow to take advantage of new technologies, in part because companies are afraid of hurting business.

Executives including Puzder, for instance, say younger customers prefer ordering kiosks, but most others still want to place orders with humans.

AP McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook demonstrates an order kiosk at a McDonald’s restaurant in New York City. He has said automating basic tasks, where possible, is “the smart thing to do.”