The Fifteen Group

becomes ever more challenging, and we’ve got to figure ways to combat that. And that leads right back into technology. Making use of technology, these days, does two things: it reduces the need for labor and it also reduces the need for skilled labor. If you can get by with unskilled labor doing the job that, six years ago, used to require skilled labor, that’s a huge thing.” “It’s an interesting challenge for restaurants,” Hopkins continues, “because at the same time, consumers are demanding better and better from operations. If you look at the quick-serve market, 25 years ago, the best quick-serve thing you could get was a McDonald’s hamburger, whereas now, consumers are demanding better offerings than that. So, the challenge on the restaurant side is: how do I deliver a better experience for the guest without losing money in the process? That comes down to technology, as well as training processes, systems, and procedures in an operation. Unless you have everything systemized and processed, such that unskilled labor can do a skilled position, it makes it really hard.”