Machine To Make Hamburgers To Order

On a recent Clark Howard (Consumer) Forum, there was a posting about a machine that could make hamburgers to order. I didn’t view the video they linked to, because this is old news, so to speak. We’ve had automated food for quite some time. The post also snidely asked if this would be the end of fast food restaurants.

This was my reply:

Wait! A thing to make hamburgers and you don’t have to pay it? Isn’t that already the definition of a McDonald’s employee?

I’ve seen reports of all sorts of machines doing things like this for years now.

The Automat was a self-serve food establishment where food was dispensed through doors with no waitstaff—and it was started in 1895. It didn’t eliminate the job of waiters and waitresses. TV dinners, created by Swanson in 1953, didn’t push restaurants out of business either.

Granted, the whole idea behind places like McDonald’s is that no matter where in the world you go, you know the quality and taste of the food will be the same. However, if a steak or fettuccine Alfredo tasted the same worldwide, eating out would be very boring (ask Sheldon Cooper).

If you ever sat in a train or bus station in the ’50s or ’60s, they had those vending machines that made a fresh cup of chicken soup or coffee. The thing was a unit where the product dropped into a pile on a roll of filter paper, hot water would drizzle over it, and it would drip into the cup for you to take. The problem was that the coffee always had a tinge of chicken soup flavor.

One of the reasons to travel or eat out is to try something prepared a different way. Remember the old saying: “Life is like a restaurant. You never know what you’re gonna get!”

During a Star Trek convention in Vegas, I saw a machine in the hallway of the hotel we were in. It dispensed cellphone chargers, cables, memory sticks, and the like. It was convenient—but it wasn’t going to take over Office Depot by itself.

Costco is known for its hot dog. You buy a hot dog and a bun and get to add your desired condiments like ketchup, mustard, relish, and sometimes sauerkraut or onions. However, although it’s Costco Food Court’s biggest seller, why are there all those other items for sale? Because people want variety. There would need to be hamburger machines, ones to serve hot dogs, ice cream, coffee, orange juice, and so on. Rather than just a machine, you also get the variety of human interaction.

One trip with my mother, we stopped at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant. I ordered my typical turkey platter (Tom Turkey, they called it). The waitress was having a very bad day, and my mom asked her about it. The waitress ended up sitting down and crying while relating her story. See? Dinner AND a show!

Speaking of fast food machines, there have been plenty. I see reports of Little Debbie machines at schools. Snack machines are common, but in the ’70s I used to get “hamburgers” from vending machines. I say “hamburgers” because I think they were soybean burgers. You’d pay and get a cellophane-wrapped bun with filling, which you’d then pop in the nearby microwave to heat. They tasted bland and very salty. In the ’90s, my company had a snack machine with actual sandwiches kept refrigerated. The egg salad always looked… dubious.

Sure, a machine that can make a quick pizza or hamburger might be a fad. However, I believe that most companies who supply them aren’t pushing them as gourmet meals—rather, as a way to make some extra money on-site. I took a quick look at the video, and it happened to be a product that was featured on Shark Tank.

An interesting concept, but I do not think it will take over the world or be a major disruptor.

Usually, dinner out with Dad involved the whole family, but once, for some reason, he and I ended up at a Chinese restaurant on our own. We were seated at a pretty small round table. I wanted egg fu yung; he said he wanted Chinese spare ribs, moo goo gai pan, sweet and sour chicken, and so on. I’m guessing he forgot these were individual orders. When the waiter came with a large tray and order upon order, trying to fit them on the table, Dad realized he had ordered for a family, not just the two of us. Dad looked at the waiter and asked, “Have you eaten yet?” The waiter looked at my dad—who had a bit of extra weight to him—and said, “That’s alright. You can handle it.”
See? Again, Dinner AND a SHOW!