- McDonald's (MCD +0.1%) is the focus of the restaurant industry today as its annual meeting in Chicago takes place amid protests over wage levels.
- Though execs with the company are saying all the right things inside the event, former McDonald's USA CEO Ed Rensi went off script during an engaging interview on Fox Business News that delved into the issue of wage levels.
- "I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday and if you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry -- it’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries," noted Rensi.
- Robot automation R&D in the U.S. has accelerated over the last couple of years with the restaurant industry front and center, although no major chain has tackled the political hot potato of announcing robot-influenced job reductions.
- If there's any question that automation can't help in certain industries, Adidas may have settled that with its dramatic announcement this week that it planned to pull shoe production out of Asia for robot facilities in Europe and the U.S.
- Early talk from management at the McDonald's event has been centered on test programs being rolled out and the localization push by the chain.
- On Wall Street, Bernstein picked up coverage on McDonald's again with a Market Perform rating on a cautious view that the new national menu and innovation changes will take time to pay off.