Chick-fil-A is a reminder to grow your own home garden
While franchises are hiring robots to make the most of their fruit, are homeowners doing the same?
The following post was originally published on Window Shopping.
In my first newsroom job, I was tasked with hiring interns for our newly created blogging section. I’d hired a fashion blogger (the best-dressed circulation employee you’ve ever seen in your life), two reporters who wanted to discuss more nuanced news and religion, and I recruited an online reader to discuss health and recipes.
If you saw this New Jersey native when he walked in our front doors, he looked like he was getting ready to perform at somebody’s rap concert more than he did someone who was going to insist that I start a vegetable garden on my window sill. (Big Redman and Naughty By Nature energy.) And I loved that looks can be so deceiving. Even as a vegetarian (he was not), he made me want to step my veggie game up and was very particular about recipes.
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That food intern and my grandfather had one thing in common: Both of them are adamant about growing their own produce and reducing waste. And what they couldn’t use or cook, they gave away.
The same can be said for all the fruits and vegetables I see in a donation cabinet near Chicago’s Honeybear Cafe. Some are “ugly” fruit and some are on their last leg (read: bananas), but both come in handy for my morning fruit smoothies. And neither the gardeners nor this restaurant are asking for a dime from the food donations.
Meanwhile, a news report regarding Chick-fil-A confirms the franchise is using robots to tackle the bulk of its lemon juice production at its Bay Center Foods facility. The franchise claims it will boost efficiency and reduce food waste. Still, what happens to the employees that may have been doing that lemon production job before a robot came along? Although I’ve never stepped foot in a Chick-fil-A, this business decision would’ve made me stop.
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