Bloomberg has a story about how "decades from now, historians may look back on 2016 as the year Earthlings ate pizza from vending machines, bought burritos from a box in New York's Grand Central Terminal and devoured sushi rolled by robots."
The reason? "Millennials, accustomed to apps and online services such as Uber, Amazon.com and GrubHub, increasingly don't want to interact with other humans when ordering dinner, calling a cab or stocking up on toilet paper. That's why eateries including McDonald's, Panera Bread and CKE Restaurants are investing in kiosks and tablets so customers can also feed their misanthropy."
The story notes that even though we live in a time when "more consumers are embracing hand-made artisanal foods, 24/7 Pizza Box, Burritobox and Sushi Station are headed in the other direction. Vending-machine pizza will start popping up in Florida later this year and chipotle-chicken burritos, accompanied by guacamole and salsa, can now be ordered from an automated box. Sushi-making robots from Japan are already operating in U.S. restaurants and university cafeterias."
The numbers suggest small but steady growth - vending machines are a $7.5 billion business, were up 3.3 percent last year and are expected to rise almost two percent a year for the next few years.
The reason? "Millennials, accustomed to apps and online services such as Uber, Amazon.com and GrubHub, increasingly don't want to interact with other humans when ordering dinner, calling a cab or stocking up on toilet paper. That's why eateries including McDonald's, Panera Bread and CKE Restaurants are investing in kiosks and tablets so customers can also feed their misanthropy."
The story notes that even though we live in a time when "more consumers are embracing hand-made artisanal foods, 24/7 Pizza Box, Burritobox and Sushi Station are headed in the other direction. Vending-machine pizza will start popping up in Florida later this year and chipotle-chicken burritos, accompanied by guacamole and salsa, can now be ordered from an automated box. Sushi-making robots from Japan are already operating in U.S. restaurants and university cafeterias."
The numbers suggest small but steady growth - vending machines are a $7.5 billion business, were up 3.3 percent last year and are expected to rise almost two percent a year for the next few years.
- KC's View:
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I have to admit that I reject the notion that millennials are by definition anti-social, just as I accept the idea that there can be success stories at both ends of the gastronomic scale. I'd be willing to try sushi made by a robot once ... but if it doesn't taste good, I can't imagine I'd give it a second try.
