Chipotle’s futuristic answer to California’s minimum wage law may not be employee-friendly

It looks like Chipotle is diving head-first into the future, backed by avocado-savvy robots.

The first of these robots, called autocados, were placed in the chain’s California restaurant, likely in the hopes that they would cut down on the number of human employees required and save the company some money. This move comes amid legislation that raises the minimum wage for fast-food employees in the state to $20/hr.

Chipotle is debuting new automated machines in some restaurant chains that will make portion sizes more consistent. https://t.co/f6unufLq3S pic.twitter.com/NoJ7IonUhW

— Fortune 500 (@Fortune500) September 17, 2024

The autocado robots can “peel, stone and cut an avocado for guacamole in 26 seconds” according to the Daily Mail, which adds that a “digital makeline” can assemble salads and bowls based on app orders.

It will take some time to figure out whether the costs of implementing and maintaining these machines will be lower than paying human employees to do the same job, but Chipotle has noted that cost-effectiveness isn’t the only reason they’re introducing automated workers. In July, the company confirmed that complaints coming in from locations all across the country were valid, as people were concerned that their portion sizes were wildly inconsistent. These robots should, at least in part, offer a remedy for some of those gripes.

Customer and employee feedback on the machines will ultimately determine whether they are introduced to more restaurants around the country.

X users weighed in on the new workers:

They automated the cutting but forgot to add a masher to make it into guacamole.

— Lennster (@0xLennster) September 16, 2024

Brought to you by democrats and minimum wage laws.

— Van Luken (@luken_van) September 17, 2024

✊️ Fight for $15

— BowTiedNerve (@BowTiedNerve) September 17, 2024

Guess what doesn’t require time off, bathroom breaks, sick days, minimum wage, etc…

— Max the VC ‍ (@mreiffy) September 16, 2024

Raising the minimum wage is a great incentive for innovation

— Dug (@duginabox) September 17, 2024

This looks like a cleaning nightmare. So many enclosed surfaces, drawers, heating elements, conveyer belts, etc. For a company that regularly poisons their customers with contaminated food, this machine will end up killing customers.

— (@skjava) September 16, 2024

As a person who used to make the guac at chipotle every morning. This would have been a god send.

— Captain Blackass (@CaptainBlackass) September 17, 2024

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