AI Restaurant Opens as California Imposes New Minimum Wage,

“By the time you’re done hiring a no work history minimum wage employee, you’re out of pocket about $54,000”

January 5, 2024 by Daniel Greenfield 7 Comments

Policies have consequences.

Socialists tend to think of the world as a puzzle in which they clear away the obstacles and then they can arrange it how they please. In reality, it’s a dynamic living system that responds and counters all the various policies that leftists love to impose.

Welcome to Hotel California. Just don’t expect lunch because no one can afford to pay the waiters.

Moonstone Bistro, a popular fine-dining restaurant in west Redding, has announced they will stop serving lunch, citing California’s increased minimum wage requirements as a critical factor…

“We want to be able to hire people,” said Moonstone Bistro’s Executive Chef/Owner Che Stedman. “But anybody, if they have experience, now wants much more than $20/hour. And if they have no experience, their opening ask is $20/hour. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Let’s talk about this,” he posted on Facebook. “That’s $41,600 per year, 5 paid days off, 401(k) and health insurance that now I have to pay! Because I won’t be able to hire anyone unless I meet this new fast food standard… Because hiring someone…ANYONE… now costs $41,600. 5 paid days off. Health Insurance and a 401(k). But wait!! You also need to pay Workman’s Comp! And have liability insurance! And….Employer Contribution taxes! Yes. Required by law. By the time your done hiring a single, non experienced, no work history minimum wage employee, your out of pocket about $54,000.”

One restaurant has an answer.

The world’s first fully autonomous, AI-powered restaurant recently opened in Southern California.

Robots cook the burgers and deep-fry the French fries at CaliExpress by Flippy, a new restaurant that opened in December. The restaurant is located at 561 E. Green Street in Pasadena.

Guests who visit the restaurant can watch the robots prepare their meals from start to finish after they place an order. Orders can also be customized, a news release said.

The restaurant came to life thanks to the partnership between Cali Group, a technology forward holding company, Miso Robotics, the creator of Flippy, the world’s first AI-powered robotic fry station, and PopID, a technology company that uses biometrics to simplify ordering and payment systems.

The restaurant’s menu consists of burgers, cheeseburgers and French fries.

“To our knowledge, this is the world’s first operating restaurant where both ordering and every single cooking process are fully automated,” John Miller, CEO of PopID, said in a statement.

The service may be worse, but the costs will end up being more affordable.

More small businesses will close and operations will become consolidated by a handful of companies with the deep pockets and the tech to scale automated restaurants across the state and the country. And leftists will use that to denounce “late stage capitalism” rather than what it really is which is late stage socialism.