Restaurant without service

Where is this going?

We could have waited for it. A quinoa restaurant. Pronounce: KIE-NWA. Not in the Netherlands, but in America, because of course they are always the first with everything. It's not a normal restaurant (duh, it's still America), because there is no service involved. Nowhere. You order on an iPad, swipe your credit card along it, wait until your light turns on and then you can pick up your quinoa bowl from a hatch. In the kitchen, there are (thankfully) real people, but you don't see them.

Eatsa has just opened in San Francisco, but the plans for New York are already in place. Owner Mr. Friedberg wants to make dining out in a restaurant cheaper, and there is something to that, because here in New York you need a serious amount of money to live a little nicely. But well, when I go out to eat, I do that because I actually want to be served and not because I necessarily want to retrieve my dish from behind a hatch. Well, this concept is of course not meant for endless dining and I believe there isn't even a glass of alcohol for sale, but it's more about a new concept for a fast food restaurant. And literally, right; getting food as quickly as possible. And no burgers and fries, but healthy. Friedberg himself is super healthy and only eats vegan, so I think that's a very good choice. But yes, automating everything also means that there is less work. So it doesn't really keep people off the streets. I have mixed feelings about it. It's of course nice to experience something like this once and when you're really super duper in a hurry and want to eat something healthy quickly, this is definitely a solution, but I really hope it doesn't become a mega hype. Because Friedberg's intention is to eventually automate the kitchen as well, but that really seems like a step too far for me. Where has the love for food gone? Or am I really just an old fart?