A lot of fast food places already use some measure of automation. Most deep fryers are automated, timers prevent you from getting a raw burger, and the amount of machinery required to go from partial to full auto is very minimal.

Some things won’t be automated but people will ignore them. A burger that consists of a patty, a bun, and condiments that can be dispensed out of huge containers can be made by a machine, and it will always be perfectly made. Lettuce? Tomato? Pickle? Maybe not likely. But relish, salsa, sure. So someplace soon, and I expect to see it at the machine too show this September, you will be able to walkup to a machine, scan your credit card, and it will deliver a perfectly cooked burger with the condiments of your choice. Another machine for fries- that machine already exists and the fries are pretty good.

Hamburger vending machines will be around soon. The burgers will be consistent and dependable, and most importantly, the guy selling it to you will not have to pay someone to cook the burger and someone else to put condiments on it, and someone else to make change and hand it to you. Some Jack in the Box restaurants have already put the automated order/payment system in, and I expect to see a lot more of the same.

When the minimum wage is too high, people will just eliminate those jobs, and this is one way to do so.