BURGER TECH UPGRADE: The Yonkers Shake Shack at the Cross County Shopping Center may soon find out if machines are better at taking food orders than people, if an initial pilot goes well at Astor Place

ROBO BURGER: An upcoming Astor Place shop will process food orders at kiosks only. Other outlets may follow

YONKERS: Shake shack signaled that the Astor Place kiosks could provide a model for maximizing earnings at the Cross County outlet and other Shake Shacks.

The Manhattan-based company announced that customers will place orders exclusively via kiosks at its soon-to-open restaurant on Astor Place.

Shake Shack said the move to automated ordering should shorten wait times and is a sign of how "we evolve our business model for a big future ahead," said in a statement.

That big future has gotten a bit murkier for Shake Shack since the state raised the minimum wage for fast-food workers last year to $12 an hour, a 14% increase.

The minimum wage for these employees will rise to $13.50 on Dec. 31 and reach $15 by the end of next year.

Those expenses have taken a bite out of the fortunes of Shake Shack, which is looking to expand rapidly amid an ever more crowded field in fast-casual dining.

Labor costs ate up 26.4% of the Yonkers Shake Shack's revenue through the first half of this year, compared with 24.4% in the same period the previous year, even as costs for food and rent held steady.

"Labor and related expenses remain our largest near-term headwinds and long-term challenge," the company's chief financial officer acknowledged during an August conference call to discuss quarterly earnings.

The Upper East Side and Battery Park City locations may also get the automated ordering kiosks. because they are slated to be renovated.

But despite the tech upgrade, the Astor Place location will still intially employ a similar number of workers as a traditional Shake Shack.

The burger chain reckons it will need those employees, whom it calls "hospitality champs," to help customers figure out how to use the kiosks.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/YonkersNewswire/permalink/1987898104801091/