CHICK-fil-A is one of the latest fast food chains to add robots to its arsenal of workers.
The chain followed Chipotle’s lead, recruiting a lemon-squeezing machine to automate its process for making lemonade.
Alongside its beloved waffle potato fries and chicken sandwiches, many Chick-fil-A customers are die-hard fans of the chain’s signature lemonade.
The popular beverage is made with just three ingredients – cane sugar, filtered water, and real lemon juice – the latter requiring much employee labor.
The arduous task of squeezing lemons took up around 10,000 hours of work each day across all Chick-fil-A locations.
The fast food chain has turned to lemon-squeezing robots to automate the process, according to a Bloomberg report this week.
The magic happens at Chick-fil-A’s huge 190,000-square-foot factory north of Los Angeles, California, larger than the average Costco store.
The plant has machines that squeeze up to 1.6 million pounds of citrus with minimal human input before sending off bags of lemon juice to Chick-fil-A restaurants across the US.
Once at their destination, employees manually add water and sugar to create the chain’s iconic lemonade.
Before enlisting machines to help with the lemonade-making process, Chick-fil-A workers were in charge of squeezing the lemons – a task that caused many finger injuries.
The lemon-squeezing robots free up in-store employees to serve diners faster, according to Chick-fil-A.
The fast food chain also aims to make working at Chick-fil-A more appealing by eliminating the time-consuming process.
“You start doing the math, and there’s not going to be enough team members,” Mike Hazelton, vice president of supply chain procurement and operations at Chick-fil-A, told Bloomberg.
The California factory reportedly has 120 workers to help with equipment upkeep and ensure the lemon juice meets quality standards.
It receives 30 to 35 truckloads of fruit daily, each carrying 50,000 pounds of lemon.
Once an employee signs off on the shipment, the machines take over and process them from fruit to juice.
Their automated work optimizes the process and is about 40% more efficient than when employees squeezed the lemons.
The robots even extract oils from the lemon peels, which are then sent to cosmetic and fragrance industry companies – a new source of revenue for Chick-fil-A.
FAST FOOD INNOVATION
Chick-fil-A is just one of many fast food chains that have recruited robots to optimize their food preparation process.
For example, Chipotle began testing Autocado, its guacamole robot, last September at two California locations.
The machine cuts, cores, and peels avocados in just 26 seconds on average, halving the time it takes to make the chain’s signature guacamole.
Chipotle revealed to The U.S. Sun that the avocado robots have been removed from the restaurants and returned to the chain’s head office so an “optimization” process on the trial machines can ensue.
Before Autocado, the fast food chain trialed a machine named Chippy in 2022 that automated the process of making tortilla chips.
The machine was tested at Chipotle’s innovation hub in Irvine, California, and then introduced at a restaurant in southern California.
Chipotle Secrets
Many Chipotle workers have spilled the beans on secrets they’ve learned while working at the Mexican fast food grill, including:
The one true secret Chipotle item The truth about the secret “dragon sauce” The real reason why the Quesarito got axedAs fast food chains recruit robots to improve efficiency, they are also busy launching food deals to lure in diners.
KFC announced it’s bringing back popular $5 bowls – but fans are unimpressed.
Plus, Wendy’s launched 2 for $7 deal giving fans 16 ways to save – and that’s not the only offer.
GettyIn addition to Chick-fil-A, chains such as Chipotle have automated their food-making process with robots[/caption] Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Chick-fil-A follows Chipotle and adds ‘lemon-squeezing’ robots – and they’re 40% more efficient than humans )
Also on site :
- Chick-fil-A Announces Return of Fan-Favorite Menu Item and a New Summer Treat
- Man charged after car driven into crowds at Liverpool FC victory parade
- Russia’s Lavrov: Moscow ready for agreement with Kyiv