Shake Shack Is Going Cashier-Less In The East Village

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Shake Shack's newest NYC location in the East Village will be cashier-less, the company announced this week.

Customers at the soon-to-open Astor Place location will order and purchase their food from kiosks, not humans. The kiosks, which won't accept cash, will send you a text when your food is ready.

Shake Shack says these machines will allow them to serve more customers during busy times, so that the often lengthy Shake Shack line is shorter and moves more quickly when you're trying to pick up lunch.

The new experience comes as a surprise from the company, whose founder Danny Meyer had previously expressed reluctance to adding computers to the dining experience. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"People ask me, 'why don’t you use robots to make pizza in your restaurants, or replace waiters with iPads?'" Meyer said during an interview last year. "It doesn’t speak to me. I like to think that part of the reason people enjoy food in a restaurant is that it reminds them of the first gift of hospitality they received."

The company emphasized that Shack Shake employees would still be present to greet customers and help them through any technical difficulties. The company also said that the kiosks allowed for a starting wage of $15 per hour for employees at the new location. A spokeswoman added that the kiosks shouldn't affect the jobs available at the East Village branch; she said they'd be hiring "a similar number of team members" as at other locations.

"The Astor Place Shack will be a playground where we can test and learn the ever-shifting needs of our guests," Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti said in a statement. "We’re excited to lead with kiosk-only ordering, putting control of the Shake Shack experience in our guest’s hands, and an optimized kitchen with increased capacity for mobile orders and eventual delivery integration to support ongoing digital innovation."

The new East Village location will open in the coming weeks at 51 Astor Place. Last month, the chain announced plans to open a new headquarters and test kitchen in the West Village. It's unclear if or when the kiosks will be rolled out to other locations.

Image credit: Andrew Burton / Staff / Getty Images News