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Based in Atlanta, Georgia Chick-fil-A Inc. is cutting nearly 10,000 hours of labor a day at its locations by automating lemon squeezing, which produces the juice used in one of the fast-food chain’s most popular drinks, according to reports.
Bloomberg reported that the company, whose slogan is “Eat more chicken,” has a factory north of Los Angeles with machines that take up space larger than a typical Costco wholesale store.
The same machines that occupy the space are tasked with squeezing as many as 1.6 million pounds of lemons before bagging the juice and sending it to Chick-fil-A locations across the country. When they arrive at the restaurant, staff members add sugar and water to create the company’s trademark lemonade.
Before incorporating robots into the process, restaurant staff members were responsible for squeezing lemons, which sometimes resulted in injured fingers.
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The outdoor patio at the Shoreview, Minn., Chick-fil-A, an American fast-food restaurant chain specializing in chicken sandwiches. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Getty Images)
By taking the task out of the hands of staff and simplifying it through automation, the company hopes to make working at its locations more attractive.
“You start counting and there won’t be enough team members,” Mike Hazelton, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of procurement and supply chain operations, told Bloomberg.
The lemon-squeezing facility reportedly has 120 employees who maintain the equipment and ensure that the juice produced meets quality standards.
Ripe lemons hang on a lemon tree in front of a house on March 29, 2023 in Portugal. (Viola Lopes/image alliance via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Once the trucks arrive, an employee signs off on the shipment before the machines begin processing them from fruit to juice.
Even the oils from the scrubs are extracted during the process before being sent to companies in the cosmetics and fragrance industries, bringing Chick-fil-A a new revenue stream.
Bloomberg reported that almost all of the lemons are used when they are processed at the plant, resulting in about 40% greater efficiency than when employees squeezed the lemons.
Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for more information about the process and what it means for business.
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A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Indianapolis in May 2019. (iStock / iStock)
Chick-fil-A isn’t the only company looking for ways to use technology for automation.
Last year, Yum! Brands, operator of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants, has begun embracing the technology with plans to “AI-powered” fast food, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The company is ramping up investments in technology and automation, with about 45%, or $30 billion, of its sales coming from digital, nearly double what it did in 2019, Joe Park, Yum’s chief digital and technology manager, told the newspaper. That’s roughly double the 2019 level.
The move came as states like California raised the minimum wage. In California, most fast food workers dropped to at least $20 an hour when the new minimum wage law went into effect in April.
As a result, most restaurant operators have begun turning to artificial intelligence to cut costs and increase sales, the Journal reported.
For fast food giants like Yum, the use of artificial intelligence aims to go beyond improvement user experience.
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Yum! has a mobile app for restaurant managers called SuperApp, which the Wall Street Journal reported is testing generative artificial intelligence, allowing team members to ask operational questions like setting oven temperatures. Park told the Journal that the app, which is used by more than 8,700 Pizza Hut and KFC locations, can also be used to purchase ingredients and set employee shifts. And a new augmented reality feature could help teach workers how to make new menu items.
Fast food chains are also increasing investments in technology such as digital ordering and more drive-throughs since the COVID-19 pandemic.
While some worry that artificial intelligence could take over the need for human workers, Yum! a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that “its employees will always play a critical role.”
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias contributed to this report.
