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Robots at a new McDonald’s restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas are now serving Big Macs.
Like other fast-food chains, McDonald’s is testing robots to automate some jobs in its restaurants.
The new restaurant in Fort Worth does not have human clerks. It’s also smaller than other McDonald’s because there are no seats. It will only serve takeout food.
Customers order their food using the McDonald’s mobile phone app, touchscreen monitors in the shop, or the drive-thru area. When the food is ready, robots will push the customers’ orders onto conveyor belts which bring the food to pick-up areas.
A McDonald’s spokesperson says that the store is highly technical, but “not fully automated.” There are human workers at the restaurant, but they rarely speak with customers.
McDonald’s says that this new system is ideal for food delivery companies like ‘UberEats’ that come to pick up food and for customers who use the McDonald’s mobile app.
Some people think that McDonald’s is testing robots in its restaurants to avoid paying higher wages to human workers. A study in 2021 showed that McDonald’s was one of 300 companies in the US with low wages.
Vocabulary
- Serve – to bring or give food/drink to someone
- Chain – a business that is part of a larger company and has many locations, often in different cities or countries (McDonald’s is a fast-food chain)
- Automate – to make a process or system operate/work automatically, using machines or computers instead of people
- Clerk – a shop worker; a person who helps customers
- Takeout – food that is bought from a restaurant or other food shop to be eaten somewhere else
- Monitor – screen; display
- Drive-thru – a service or area for customers to order something and make payments from their cars
- Conveyor belt – a continuous moving surface/area that transports/moves goods or packages from one place to another
- Spokesperson – a person who speaks professionally/officially for a company
- Ideal – perfect or the best possible
- Delivery – the act or process of bringing goods, letters, etc., to a place or person; transport
- Avoid – stay away from; keep away; try not to do
- Wage – an amount of money that is paid to someone for the work they do, usually hourly or daily
- Study – the activity of examining/studying something in detail to discover new information; research; investigation
- Show – to prove something or make the truth or existence of something known; confirm; demonstrate; validate
Quiz
Discussion Questions
- How is technology like ordering food through monitors or using an app changing the way customers interact with a business? Is it positive or negative?
- What are the pros and cons of automating jobs in a restaurant business?
- In your opinion, what impact will robots and technology have on jobs? Will there be less jobs for humans in the future?
Original Story
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