After stepping away from the company years ago that stemmed from controversy and investigations involving E.coli and norovirus poisoning, Ells has returned to restaurant industry and is ditching the meat along with it.
As explained in a report by The Wall Street Journal, Ells gleaned some inspiration from the words of Microsoft founder and multibillionaire investor Bill Gates, which then helped to create his new restaurant chain.
The WSJ wrote: ‘After leaving, he spent a lot of time skiing and reading, at one point picking up “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,” a book by Bill Gates that advocates for strategies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Ells decided he could help through what he knew best—the restaurant business. He designed Kernel as a new kind of restaurant that would need fewer resources to run, envisioning a system that could help eateries generally operate better.’
Kernel, set to open 15 new locations throughout New York City, reported by NY Eater, will be serving faux chicken sandwiches and sides such as cucumbers with wild rice, catered and operated by a skeleton crew and a number of robots to do the job. As Ells described it, “We’ve taken a lot of human interaction out of the process and left just enough.”
The WSJ described how the restaurants will operate.
Customers’ orders are beamed to the kitchen, where a robotic arm puts food-laden pans into the oven. A programmed toaster flips a bun into the oven for warming, while conveyor belts move dishes through the kitchen. Workers finish off the dishes, package the food and slot it into cubbies for pickup.
To design a more efficient, less wasteful restaurant, Ells assembled a small team to figure out how to use a commissary kitchen and robotics to squeeze into spaces around 1,000 square feet or smaller and churn out to-go orders. Kernel locations need three workers, rather than the dozen that many fast-casual eateries have working, and the new system’s design helps better ensure food safety, Ells said.
Ells said that while he still eats meat on occasion, he says that so few restaurants serve up delicious plant-based menu items. ‘Kernel’s menu leans on legumes and vegetables rather than newer plant-based meat alternatives,’ the WSJ added.
It’s not trying to be beef. It’s not trying to be pork.
Ells described the veggie burger
Though Ells is no longer with Chipotle, his old franchise has been on the cutting edge of robotic innovation as well, slowly phasing-out staff with automation bots to do the cooking, prep, assembly, and ordering, as noted by The WinePress in several reports:
- Chipotle Trials Autonomous Kitchen With New Tortilla Chip-Making Robot Chippy
- Chipotle Releases New RFID Packaging For Improved Traceability
- Chipotle Introduces The “Autocado,” An AI-Powered Robot That Prepares Guacamole
- Chipotle To Trial Robotic Burrito Bowl Assembly Line As Company Moves To Go Fully Automated
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Ah, two evils at once: reduced meat consumption, and the elimination of jobs and replaced by machines entirely. How quaint.
[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; [3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
1 Timothy 4:1-3; Proverbs 21:25
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Good grief!
Meatless fake meats made with tofu (which is terrible for you) and other additives, there’s no way I’m eating that slop.
Andrew, according to Billy Gonad. and Klaus Scabb, if you allow them to take you alive…you WILL eat “that slop”, and…”You’ll like it a lot!”