We’re talking about a lot of amazing technologies, but are operators really going to take to this new equipment? Well, let’s talk about online ordering. What device is used? The customer’s device. As my phone gets more powerful, maybe my phone is a kiosk.

What other alternative payment options are out there? The phone is actually going to have a chip embedded in it, which is going to be your American Express or whatever credit card you have. Already in Europe you can go up to a vending machine and buy things with your phone.

What if I lose my phone? The answer there is the different biometrics of the owner will give you access to the phone and auto connects with it. So on the screen of the iPhone there in the bottom right, there’s a little square that comes up when I want to pay for something, and I put my finger over it, and it’s actually analyzing the blood vessel pattern under the thumb.

Is there an opportunity to customize a consumer’s experience and already know his preferences when he come to the counter? You’ve got to know your customer. Is your customer someone that’s concerned about weight? Exercise? Certain demographics in the age levels don’t care, some other ones do. Let’s go back to my example. I’m on my phone. I set up my own personal profile on my phone for food. In other words, let’s say I want low carbs, low sugar, or let’s say I don’t care. Again I have to bring up privacy. No, you don’t know my profile. I do. And then, when I go to order, it can give me suggestions based on my profile.

What if I’m a mom, would I be able to keep the profiles of my kids, too? Yes, you’ve got plenty of storage on your phone.

Fast food is a place where employee turnover is huge and inventory seems to “disappear.” What will be the best way for owners to combat that? Well, first of all, the security cameras that we have today are terrible. You’ve seen on television where they show some guy committing a crime and you’re wondering how anybody can see anything. So think high definition. Since we have high turnover, and in some places we’re not sure about the level of trust we have with everybody, if they all know it’s high definition, that right there is helping. What you want to do is keep honest people honest. And you want to make it not easy. That can help out quite a bit. And then, secondly, it will see where the problem has taken place.

How closely in the future do you think something like that will be available and affordable? A couple of years. I mean, you could do it now. I’m just building in affordability.

Speaking of employees, will there ever come a time that everyone in the kitchen is replaced by machines? Let’s go back to my concept of Both/And. I think the key is where to use a robot and where to use a person. You want quality control, and the robot could do a certain level of it, but once again, it’s followed by a competitive advantage. So there may be chains that decide to be completely automated. Meaning, I am getting a food where no humans had anything to do with it. I’m not sure of the audience for that. That’s a little harder sale. But, to phase it in so that there is a mixture of humans at certain points and robotics at others, yes, that could work.

Where do you think it’s most important to insert robotics in the process? Highly repetitive tasks. For example, french fries need to be taken out of the fryer. That’s boiling stuff with lots of potential for injury. Have a robot arm that lifts it out instead. Wherever there could be injury or harm to the employee or wherever there are completely repetitive tasks, those are really right for automation.

Then there are other parts that you need the human aspect to it. Maybe it’s in the finish. Maybe it’s quality control.

Does voice recognition have a place in quick-service? Voice recognition right now is 98.5 percent accurate. With the curve going up like it is, we’re going to be close to that 100 percent in a short amount of time, closer to four or five years or less actually. So we’re already within a year or so of 99 percent. That’s pretty good.

I think the key once again is asking where you need it. Where’s the place to use it? All of this technology is all about knowing your brand and knowing your customer and building your brand and making sure you understand what your brand is. There’s probably going to be some brand migration, which means you know what your brand is but you need to take it from point A to point B.