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Based in Atlanta, Georgia Chick-fil-A Inc. is reportedly cutting nearly 10,000 man-hours a day at its locations by automating lemon juice, which produces the juice used in one of the fast-food chain's most popular drinks.
Bloomberg reported that the company, whose slogan is “Eat More Chicken,” has a factory in North Los Angeles where its machinery takes up more space than a typical Costco wholesaler.
The same machines occupying the space are tasked with squeezing 1.6 million pounds of lemons before they are juiced and shipped to Chick-fil-A locations across the country. When you go to the restaurant, the staff adds sugar and water to create the company's trademark lemonade.
Before robots were used in the process, restaurant workers were responsible for squeezing the lemons, which sometimes resulted in finger injuries.
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An outdoor patio in Shoreview, Minn., Chick-fil-A, an American fast-food restaurant chain that specializes in chicken sandwiches. (Michael Silock/UCG/Universal Pictures Group via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The company hopes to make working at its locations more attractive by taking work off the hands of employees and simplifying it through automation.
Mike Hazleton: “You start doing the math and there won't be enough team members.” Chickfil A Vice President of Procurement and Supply Chain Operations told Bloomberg.
The lemon water site reportedly has 120 employees to maintain the equipment and ensure that the water produced meets quality standards.
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Ripe lemons hang on a lemon tree in front of a house on March 29, 2023 in Portugal. (Viola Lopes/Etihad Image via Getty Images/Getty Images)
As soon as the trucks arrive, an employee signs off on the shipment before the machines begin processing them from fruit to juice.
Even the oils from the hides are extracted during the process before being sent to cosmetics and fragrance companies, bringing a new revenue stream to Chick-fil-A.
Nearly all of the lemons are used up during processing at the plant, Bloomberg reported, resulting in about 40 percent more efficiency than when employees squeeze the lemons.
Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for more information about the process and what it means for the business.
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A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Indianapolis in May 2019. (iStock)
Chick-fil-A isn't the only company looking for ways to use technology for automation.
Last year, Yum! Brands, operator of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants, is beginning to embrace the technology with plans to Fast food “with artificial intelligence”, According to the Wall Street Journal
The company has increased investment in technology and automation, with about 45 percent, or $30 billion, of digital sales, nearly double from 2019, Yum's chief technology and digital officer Joe Park told the newspaper. .
The move came as states like California raised the minimum wage. In California, when the new minimum wage law went into effect in April, most fast food workers dropped to at least $20 an hour.
As a result, most restaurant operators are beginning to turn to artificial intelligence to cut costs and increase sales, according to the Journal.
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Yum has a mobile app for restaurant managers called SuperApp, which the Wall Street Journal reported is testing generative artificial intelligence, allowing team members to ask operational questions like how to set the oven temperature. Park told the Journal that the app, which is used by more than 8,700 Pizza Hut and KFC locations, can also be used to purchase ingredients and schedule employee shifts. And a new augmented reality feature can teach workers how to create new menu items.
Fast food chains have also increased investment in technology such as digital ordering and more incentives since the Covid-19 pandemic.
While some worry that artificial intelligence will eliminate the need for human labor, a yum! “Its employees will always play an important role,” a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.
Fox News Digital's Pilar Arias contributed to this report.