Some restaurants in New York City are now using cashiers who appear on screen via Zoom — live from the Philippines — working for less than $4 an hour.
These remote workers take orders, operate the POS system, and interact with customers through a monitor placed at the counter. In some locations, diners are still prompted to leave tips — even though the cashier isn’t physically present.
Restaurant owners say it helps cut costs and keeps doors open. But this raises serious questions: What happens to local jobs? Is tipping still justified? And where’s the line between innovation and exploitation?
This isn’t the future. This is already happening.
The New York Food Business Association believes that while this approach is clearly harmful to the local economy, it may still draw interest from some restaurants struggling to survive. In today’s harsh climate, where many businesses are barely staying afloat, outsourcing cashier roles to remote workers for under $4 an hour can feel like temporary relief — a way to buy time.
However, we do not recommend making serious investments in this model. AI technology is evolving rapidly, and we are approaching a point where cashier functions can be fully automated using advanced voice and vision models — at an even lower cost, and with customer interactions that feel nearly indistinguishable from a real person.
At the New York Food Business Association, we closely monitor developments in automation and AI. When these technologies become reliably available to small food businesses, we will be among the first to let you know.