<i>"After you place an order at a kiosk, you pick it up a few minutes later behind a glass door or “cubby.” The only humans in sight are the concierges, who can answer questions that you may have about the software, and the dozen or so staff in the kitchen.</i>"<p>They've re-invented the Automat, little glass doors and all.[1] The first Automat opened in 1887, and the last one closed in 1991.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat</a>
Since service workers can no longer afford to live in SF, this seems necessary at some point.<p>I say that fully tongue in cheek, but it is an interesting reality to consider. If the labor market you are dependent on dries up because of housing and cost of living, and you can't afford to pay more to be competitive, you either go out of business or automate. This seems like a logical step for an industry with notoriously thin margins.<p>The sarcastic side of me wonders if they'll still prompt for a tip...
> Eatsa’s team, led by Scott Drummond and Tim Young, are hoping to attract health-conscious types with its hearty salads and quinoa bowls stuffed with green beans, avocado, and root vegetables. The average meal will set you back about 500 calories, which is far lower than most fast food alternatives.<p>That's just about the number of calories in a big mac. Or a bojangles canjun biscuit. Or a chik-fil-a fried chicken sandwich.
Seems like they're pointlessly limiting their market. No people, fine, but why make it vegetarian? They already have to overcome one barrier to get people in the door.
<i>"...in fact, the price of a burrito bowl and quinoa bowl are roughly equitable at just under $7, although the latter contains about half the calories"</i><p>They demonstrate the same oversimplification of food health included in every fast food chain's marketing. It's literally ironic that a lower calorie count is considered 'healthy'.<p>Low calorie food will help you lose weight. If you are not overweight, you should not be limiting your caloric intake.<p>Healthy food is rich with a variety of nutrients, low in harmful components and <i>high in calories</i>.
> But what’s unique about Eatsa is the focus on health and taste.<p>What's so unique about that? Restaurants have focused on taste since there have been restaurants and have focused on health since there's been demand for it (last few decades). I had an avocado-kale-lemon smoothie this morning from a new place that just opened up in my neighborhood...
This has a brilliant scaling strategy. If McDonalds decides to one day replace half it's workers with terminals, people will almost certainly see it, and it may impact sales. However here, with the food out of sight they can incrementally swap people for machines, and it'll only affect business if quality dips below acceptable limits.
"Healthy" if you're still using 1990s health guidelines. I've got no need for carbohydrate-filled root vegetables, couscous, or quinoa in my diet.
This is seems inevitable, we have seem something similar with bank tellers being partially replaced by ATM's and grocery clerks partially replaced by self serve, we are probably going to see something similar for fast food first but eventually in more and more restaurants. You know the old adage, if your job could be done by a robot eventually it will be.
<i>a meal is slightly cheaper than Chipotle, which may appeal to cash-strapped people who work in the area (in fact</i><p>Little known fact: You can get a great meal for under $6 at Chipotle. You just have to know how to order. I often wish I knew how to make money off information of this sort. Alas, that escapes me. :-/