#digital kitchen

Chipotle is opening up its first ‘Digital Kitchen’ prototype restaurant in Highland Falls, NY. Customers will place their orders online and pick up the food as the location won’t have the option to order in person

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This last weekend I had occasion to find myself in Taos New Mexico. I was in town to hike Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico. That all went exceedingly well, but that’s a story for another time. It was while trying to patronize a few restaurants that I experienced first hand the struggle many outlets have in finding employees, which, as it turned out, became fodder for this blog.

For example, I tried to eat at two Chinese restaurants, only to walk in and find out they do not offer in-house dining anymore, only takeaway. Not enough employees. And then there was my quick stop at the McDonald’s en route to the trail. I don’t eat at McDonald’s, but I did want to get a cup of coffee and visit the baño one last time. You know. Because McDonald’s is kind of America’s Rest Stop like that. You can almost always count on them.

Except this time. I arrived shortly after 6:30am, their opening time. I saw cars lined up for the drive-thru, but the lights were on inside and I went to the main door. Locked. Barred. None shall pass. A sign bore their message, apologizing for the inconvenience and explaining that they could not find crew members. They thus had shuttered the complete front-of-house, not just for breakfast, but for the entire day!

“Whoa,” I thought. They are now stuck with a very expensive building, of which they are using maybe half. This does not bode well for them. I have already heard of fast food chains planning new downsized buildings with little or no indoor dining, catering only to walk-up and drive-thru for in-app and online orders, as well as Door Dashers.

And then there’s the new Whataburger Digital Kitchen that just opened on the west side of Austin. It’s small. It doesn’t take cash. It doesn’t have a drive-thru. All orders must be placed in-app, online, or at onsite kiosks, all outside, of course, because you aren’t going in. There is zero human contact. Food is then delivered via secure lockers. And forget about the baño.

The new shop will be open 364 days a year, 24 hours a day, and have a crew of 50. That may sound like a lot for a place without all the trappings of a traditional fast food joint, but a typical McDonald’s employs between 90 and 120 and they are not even open 24 hours.

Whataburger has been a Texas staple for more than 70 years, a regional favorite many people will tell you is better than In-N-Out and Five Guys. It’s also a chain that did something very politically incorrect 40 years ago when it featured country crooner Mel Tillis as their spokesperson on TV ads. Tillis is a stutterer, and they made light of it by letting him stutter away. It was self-deprecating I suppose, and I guess Tillis was OK with it all, but that would never fly today.

Thinking back to the Taos McDonald’s, though, this sounds like the perfect model for them. It’s just too bad they already have such a big footprint, something that was once normal, but is now rapidly falling out of favor.

If a customer is digitally-averse, they’ll just be out of luck here. You have to have fully embraced the digital lifestyle in order to feel comfortable here, not to mention eating in your car or elsewhere. There’s probably a Circle K or QT down the street if you need to do other business.

I suspect all eyes will be on this new shop, not just internally at Whataburger, which is now owned by Chicago-based BDT Capital Partners. Whataburger has plans to reintroduce itself to Florida, and this concept could work very well there. And then there are all the other chains looking for ways to simultaneously save money, yet also address the dwindling labor pool. I see this being replicated far and wide.

Better yet, these smaller restaurants take up a lot less expensive real estate. To be frank, they have almost stolen a page from the playbook of Dutch Bros and Scooter’s Coffee chains, with their minimalist drive-up only shops. Commercial real estate, including land and building, is not cheap these days.

Interestingly, we have pretty much come full circle now. I remember the McDonald’s not far from my first childhood home. I would ride my bicycle about a mile to place my order at a window, and then sit on the curb to eat it. There was no indoor seating, no massive playgrounds, no Ronald McDonald and Hamburglar statues. It was strictly a walk-up restaurant, take it or leave it.

And I kind of like this new Whataburger. It’s a nice throwback to my much younger days, something that my students don’t have stored in their memories, but with a modern twist. What is old is suddenly new again.

While I quickly pivoted from the McDonald’s that morning to the Allsup’s down the street, I did grumble a bit about the Chinese restaurants, because I had a taste for a sit-down meal of tasty Asian food. I settled for a very nice New Mexican restaurant and zesty fajitas instead. I suspect, though, that this may new normal for a lot of places in a lot of cities, and like in all things, we’ll just have to adapt.

Change can be painful, just like climbing a mountain. But once you get over the hump, it’s all downhill from there.

Dr “We’ll Get Over It” Gerlich

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For months I dreamed!A kitchen scale, it is indispensable that we want for bring on into the bakery or pastry.Since that time ONESELF tinker swish the grill, a dining hall scale, I had already, pertaining to course, at any rate mechanical and not very commodious.<\p>