(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Steve Ells, founder of the Chipotle restaurant chain, recently announced the opening of Kernel—a new vegetarian chain, largely run by robots.
Kernel’s first location will open in Manhattan next year. It feature meat-free sandwiches, salads and sides all cooked, assembled and served by robots, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ells is opting to stray away from meat replacements, such as beyond meats, and instead heavily emphasizes legumes and other vegetables in their own right.
“It’s not trying to be beef,” Ells said about his veggie burger. “It’s not trying to be pork.”
Customers place their orders via a touchscreen, where robots insert food into ovens, flip buns on the toaster and move dishes through the kitchen.
Only three employees will staff the restaurant at a time; their primary task will be packaging completed meals and inserting them into cubbies where customers can pick them up.
It is unclear whether employees will also be responsible for maintaining the machines.
“We’ve taken a lot of human interaction out of the process and left just enough,” Ells said.
Yet, critics may argue that his new business is the next step in pushing a globalist new world order.
Organizations like the World Economic Forum have long sought to usher in what some consider to be the fourth or fifth industrial revolution, a world in which the prevalence of technology will once again relegate many humans to a state of serfdom, subsisting on the benevolence of a few elite masters who control the technology and algorithms.
In addition to a world in which the majority of humans “own nothing,” the WEF has long pushed for its utopia to be meat-free, replacing animal protein with insects.
Ells left Chipotle in 2020 as a result of a massive outbreak of foodborne illness. In his time off, he read How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and dedicated himself to creating a restaurant that used fewer resources.
In his mind, using fewer resources meant primarily employing fewer people. Kernel kitchens also occupy around 1,000 square feet and can quickly cook and send to-go orders.
Ells claims that the robots and technological sensors installed in the new restaurants are more capable of ensuring food safety.
Ells plans to open 15 restaurants around New York over the next two years before continuing on to other densely populated areas.
Money saved from employing a larger staff will be re-invested in the employees’ salaries and benefits.
