Faced with a challenging labor market, some of the biggest restaurants in the country have transformed robotics into a mainstream alternative.

Chipotle is the best example. The fast casual not only began testing an automated kitchen assistant that can cook tortilla chips, it also announced an investment in Hyphen, which created a robotic makeline that assembles digital orders under the counter while workers fulfill requests for in-store guests. Meanwhile, White Castle has tested fry-cooking robots for a few years, and so has Buffalo Wild Wings in the full-service segment. Panera is experimenting with an AI-powered coffee system.

While the longer-term benchmark is lowering labor costs, the immediate objective is to create a less pressure-filled, pleasant environment for employees, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

McDonalds, which hiked its wages last summer to attract and retain more staffing, is after the same goals as Chipotle and White Castle, but CEO Chris Kempczinski isnt buying the hype around robotics as a near-term solution.

Ive talked about it in the past. Weve spent a lot of time, money, effort looking at this and there is not going to be a silver bullet that goes and addresses this for the industry, Kempczinski said during the companys Q2 earnings call. The idea of robots and all those things, while it may be great for garnering headlines, its not practical in the vast majority of restaurants. The economics dont pencil out, you dont necessarily have the footprint, and theres a lot of infrastructure investments you need to do around your utilities, your HVAC systems. Youre not going to see that as a broad-based solution any time soon.

Thats not to say McDonalds is totally removing itself from automation. Through a round of checks, BTIG analyst Peter Saleh discovered the company conducted a 24-store test of AI voice ordering in Illinois. However, systemwide implementation is far off, as accuracy was in the low 80 percentage, well below McDonalds desire of 95 percent-plus.

Despite staffing pressures, (McDonalds experienced 10 percent labor inflation in the second quarter), the brand knows its possible to have full rosters because its 661 corporate locations have consistently outperformed the U.S. average. The units have seen speed of service improvements that are driving customer satisfaction.

We do think we have a formula and playbook that if deployed, can ensure that we have our restaurants properly staffed, Kempczinski said. There are things you can do around systems and technology, especially taking advantage of all this data that youre collecting around customers, that I think can make the job easierscheduling as an example, ordering as another examplethat will ultimately reduce some of the labor demands in the restaurant.

Weve got to kind of get after this the old-fashioned way, which is making sure were a great employer and offering our crew a great experience when they come into the restaurants, he added.

The chains U.S. same-store sales lifted 3.7 percent, driven almost entirely by growth in average check, which was fueled by menu pricing in the high-single digits. The domestic business was positive across all dayparts, led by breakfast. Other than late night, all have seen 20 percent growth on a three-year stack.

International Operated Markets saw same-store sales rise 13 percent, fueled by recovery in France, Germany, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. International Developmental Licensed Markets grew comps 16 percent, largely driven by strong numbers in Japan and Latin America. In fact, Japan achieved its 27th straight quarter of positive same-store sales, with strength across delivery and digital. China, with added restrictions, saw double-digit declines and temporary restaurant closures, but McDonalds maintains its projection of opening 800 restaurants in the country this year.

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McDonald's Isn't Banking on Robots Solving the Labor Crisis - QSR magazine