It was only a matter of time before small businesses that cannot stay profitable due to increasing minimum wage requirements used technology to replace overpriced labor:
This allowed employees living in the Philippines to take store orders, adjust delivery orders, answer store calls, and even manage restaurant reviews.
Happy Casher expects more than 100 New York-based restaurants to use the service by the end of this year.
The hourly wage for Filipinos working in this job is $3 (about 4,100 won), which is quite cheap considering New York’s minimum wage of $16 (about 22,000 won).
There is a 12-hour time difference, but employees of Happy Casher communicate with visitors through Zoom and take orders.
The manager of the Japanese restaurant said, “It is a way for small business owners to survive.”
Maeil Kyeongchae
You can read more at the link, but I think something that customers will appreciate is that by ordering through a Zoom worker they likely do not need to leave a tip making the meal more affordable.
