5 ms·

Robotic fast food is basically inevitable. It's the same exact process, rarely do menus really change. Burger actually looks pretty dang good, and for $6? Heck

Robotic fast food is basically inevitable. It's the same exact process, rarely do menus really change. Burger actually looks pretty dang good, and for $6? Heck yes.

simplecomplex 8y ago
In-n-out double-double is $3.45, and they don’t use frozen or prepackaged patties. Automation isn’t doing much for consumers here.
- spunker540 8y ago
  The one thing these burgers got on in-n-out is the freshly-ground beef trump card.
  - gamegoblin 8y ago
    I would be interested to see some blind taste test data to determine if a majority of people can distinguish a burger made with beef that was ground 1 day before cooking vs. 1 minute before cooking.
    - kevinmchugh 8y ago
      I haven't seen such a chart, but I don't know of any burger restaurant that grinds a la minute - not at any price point.
      - choward 8y ago
        That's a moot point if you can't tell the difference or if the one that was pre-ground ends up tasting better in a blind taste test. I agree, however, that the freshly ground one should taste better.
        kevinmchugh 8y ago
        My point is that even high end restaurants haven't found it worthwhile to grind immediately before cooking, so it's probably a pretty minor difference
        overcast 8y ago
        Probably because it's labor intensive, something an automated machine can handle just fine.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
      I think very few people will be able to tell the difference. However, IMHO, the source of the beef can trump all that. I used to buy a year's worth of beef from a local farmer all at once. Even after a year in the freezer, a burger made from his grass-fed beef tasted better than one made from meat bought from the grocery the same day. When you start out with high quality meat, it takes a long time before the flavor degrades. OTOH, "regular" store bought ground beef tastes nasty after being frozen for a few months.
  - workinthehead 8y ago
    You seriously can't taste the difference between pasture-raised beef and the grade D swill that junk food pushers like In-n-out peddle?
    - kevinmchugh 8y ago
      The biggest factor is in fresh vs frozen, and in N out is on the correct side of that divide. I'd be interested in a blind comparison between burgers made with high and low end pieces of beef, but it'd be very difficult to eliminate the confounding variables. Getting fat percentage equal would be tough.
      - workinthehead 8y ago
        In N Out uses factory-farmed, garbage-fed, antibiotic-saturated beef from cows who have no room to move and stand in their own shit all day. I can tell the difference between that kind of stuff and a good healthy grass-fed cow by smell alone. Seriously, I wonder if you have ever even had healthy beef.
        kevinmchugh 8y ago
        Interesting. How did you come to the conclusion that you can tell the difference just by smell? Can you do that after it's been cooked? It's easy to see certain differences in uncooked, whole cuts of beef, but I'm impressed that you can smell the difference.
      - workinthehead 8y ago
        To your point about high end and low end pieces of beef, steaks are usually priced by the tenderness of the beef, which tends to have an inverse relationship with flavor (of course, there are other factors as well, and some people just prefer a mild-tasting cut). As you might have inferred by now, good burgers are typically made from cuts like brisket and chuck that are tough, inexpensive, and high in flavor. Using high-end steaks for burgers is simply a waste, doubly so for well-marbled ones. The fat percentage would not be difficult. Any good butcher would probably be happy to help you set such a comparison up. That is, if they don't warn you that it's a waste to use that T-bone on a burger first.
- workinthehead 8y ago
  Why would they use "prepackaged" patties, when they come in by the literal pallet? In-n-out is disgusting, by the way.
optimuspaul 8y ago
$6 is a lot for a fast food burger. I can get a really good burger at dozens of places for less and isn't made by a machine.
- overcast 8y ago
  I mean a Wendy's double is $5, $3 is just crazy cheap.
- dummyvariable 8y ago
  Even though this is a fast food, its more customizable, more of a "Counter" burger IMHO.
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  It looks like a high quality burger made fast.
  - greedo 8y ago
    5 minutes isn't fast when there's 20 people in line ahead of you.
    - lern_too_spel 8y ago
      Presumably, the restaurant will be able to make more than one burger at the same time, just like other restaurants. The point is that it's faster than a burger at a specialty burger restaurant, like Red Robin.
      - greedo 8y ago
        Unless they speed up the machine (possible with future versions) or add multiple machines (which increases the required retail space as well as capital expenditures), they're limited by the robot's 5 min throughput. Serially cooking is no way to run a restaurant. A grill at Red Robin operates in parallel and can easily beat this thing at throughput.

Robotic fast food is basically inevitable. It's the same exact process, rarely do menus really change. Burger actually looks pretty dang good, and for $6? Heck yes.

simplecomplex 8y ago

In-n-out double-double is $3.45, and they don’t use frozen or prepackaged patties. Automation isn’t doing much for consumers here.

spunker540 8y ago
The one thing these burgers got on in-n-out is the freshly-ground beef trump card.
- gamegoblin 8y ago
  I would be interested to see some blind taste test data to determine if a majority of people can distinguish a burger made with beef that was ground 1 day before cooking vs. 1 minute before cooking.
  - kevinmchugh 8y ago
    I haven't seen such a chart, but I don't know of any burger restaurant that grinds a la minute - not at any price point.
    - choward 8y ago
      That's a moot point if you can't tell the difference or if the one that was pre-ground ends up tasting better in a blind taste test. I agree, however, that the freshly ground one should taste better.
      - kevinmchugh 8y ago
        My point is that even high end restaurants haven't found it worthwhile to grind immediately before cooking, so it's probably a pretty minor difference
        overcast 8y ago
        Probably because it's labor intensive, something an automated machine can handle just fine.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
    I think very few people will be able to tell the difference. However, IMHO, the source of the beef can trump all that. I used to buy a year's worth of beef from a local farmer all at once. Even after a year in the freezer, a burger made from his grass-fed beef tasted better than one made from meat bought from the grocery the same day. When you start out with high quality meat, it takes a long time before the flavor degrades. OTOH, "regular" store bought ground beef tastes nasty after being frozen for a few months.
- workinthehead 8y ago
  You seriously can't taste the difference between pasture-raised beef and the grade D swill that junk food pushers like In-n-out peddle?
  - kevinmchugh 8y ago
    The biggest factor is in fresh vs frozen, and in N out is on the correct side of that divide. I'd be interested in a blind comparison between burgers made with high and low end pieces of beef, but it'd be very difficult to eliminate the confounding variables. Getting fat percentage equal would be tough.
    - workinthehead 8y ago
      In N Out uses factory-farmed, garbage-fed, antibiotic-saturated beef from cows who have no room to move and stand in their own shit all day. I can tell the difference between that kind of stuff and a good healthy grass-fed cow by smell alone. Seriously, I wonder if you have ever even had healthy beef.
      - kevinmchugh 8y ago
        Interesting. How did you come to the conclusion that you can tell the difference just by smell? Can you do that after it's been cooked? It's easy to see certain differences in uncooked, whole cuts of beef, but I'm impressed that you can smell the difference.
    - workinthehead 8y ago
      To your point about high end and low end pieces of beef, steaks are usually priced by the tenderness of the beef, which tends to have an inverse relationship with flavor (of course, there are other factors as well, and some people just prefer a mild-tasting cut). As you might have inferred by now, good burgers are typically made from cuts like brisket and chuck that are tough, inexpensive, and high in flavor. Using high-end steaks for burgers is simply a waste, doubly so for well-marbled ones. The fat percentage would not be difficult. Any good butcher would probably be happy to help you set such a comparison up. That is, if they don't warn you that it's a waste to use that T-bone on a burger first.
workinthehead 8y ago
Why would they use "prepackaged" patties, when they come in by the literal pallet? In-n-out is disgusting, by the way.

optimuspaul 8y ago

$6 is a lot for a fast food burger. I can get a really good burger at dozens of places for less and isn't made by a machine.

overcast 8y ago
I mean a Wendy's double is $5, $3 is just crazy cheap.
dummyvariable 8y ago
Even though this is a fast food, its more customizable, more of a "Counter" burger IMHO.
lern_too_spel 8y ago
It looks like a high quality burger made fast.
- greedo 8y ago
  5 minutes isn't fast when there's 20 people in line ahead of you.
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    Presumably, the restaurant will be able to make more than one burger at the same time, just like other restaurants. The point is that it's faster than a burger at a specialty burger restaurant, like Red Robin.
    - greedo 8y ago
      Unless they speed up the machine (possible with future versions) or add multiple machines (which increases the required retail space as well as capital expenditures), they're limited by the robot's 5 min throughput. Serially cooking is no way to run a restaurant. A grill at Red Robin operates in parallel and can easily beat this thing at throughput.