Chick-fil-A’s lemon-squeezing automation cuts over 10,000 hours per day:

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A Inc. is cutting nearly 10,000 hours of work per day at its locations through the automation of lemon squeezing, which produces the juice used in one of the fast-food chain’s most popular drinks, according to reports.

Bloomberg reported the company, which branded the slogan “Eat more chicken,” has a plant just north of Los Angeles with machines occupying space larger than a typical Costco Wholesale.

The same machines occupying the space are tasked with squeezing as much as 1.6 million pounds of lemons before bagging the juice and sending it off to Chick-fil-A locations all over the country. Once at the restaurant, staff members add sugar and water to create the company’s trademark lemonade.

Prior to incorporating the robots into the process, staff members at restaurants were responsible for squeezing the lemons, which sometimes resulted in injured fingers.

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An outdoor patio at a Chick-fil-A location in Shoreview, Minnesota. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

By taking the task out of the staff’s hands and streamlining it through automation, the company hopes to make working at its locations more appealing.

“You start doing the math, and there’s not going to be enough team members,” Mike Hazelton, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of supply chain procurement and operations, told Bloomberg.

The lemon-squeezing site reportedly has 120 employees to maintain the equipment and ensure the juice produced meets quality standards.

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Ripe lemons hang on a lemon tree in front of a house in Portugal on March 29, 2023. (Viola Lopes/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Once the truckloads arrive, an employee signs off on the shipment before the machines begin to process them from fruit to juice.

Even the oils from the peels are extracted during the process before being sent to cosmetic and fragrance industry companies, which brings in a new stream of revenue for Chick-fil-A.

Bloomberg reported that nearly all of the lemon is used when processed at the facility, resulting in about 40% higher efficiency than when employees squeezed the lemons.

Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for more information about the process and what it means for business.

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A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Indianapolis. (iStock / iStock)

Chick-fil-A is not the only company looking for ways to use technology for automation.

Last year, Yum! Brands, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants, began embracing technology with plans for “AI-powered” fast food, according to a Wall Street Journal…