Current Events > Filipino Virtual Cashiers Taking Orders at New York Restaurants for $3 Per Hour

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://usa.inquirer.net/147939/filipino-virtual-cashiers-taking-orders-at-new-york-restaurants

Your next order of fried chicken at a New York City restaurant may come with a hello from the Philippines.

Virtual assistants based in the Philippines have become a sought-after option for companies who want to do more with less.

Some restaurants in New York City are now exploring this option to keep up with the rising costs of labor, rent and other overhead expenses.

As minimum wages soar $16 in New York City and now $20 for fast food workers in California restaurant owners are feeling the pinch.

Beamed on flat-screen monitors at self-service kiosks, virtual hosts from the Philippines are now taking orders at restaurants, including Yaso Kitchen, Sansan Chicken in Long Island and East Village. They welcome customers with flashing smiles a hospitality trait Filipinos are renowned for.

Behind this concept is Happy Cashier, the brainchild of 34-year-old Chi Zhang. A social media post about these remote workers went viral, bringing this innovative approach into the public eye.

This business approach has attracted business owners, boosting customer service in stores across Manhattan, Queens and Jersey City, including Sansan Ramen, the sister company of Sansan Chicken and Yaso Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant known for soup dumplings.

The program has been quietly experimenting with the concept since October, with their website still in the works.

The New York-based Happy Cashier outsources virtual assistants mostly from the 1.3 million Filipinos working in the business processing industries (BPO) sector, the biggest globally.

The company pays Filipino virtual assistants $3 per hour way less compared to US wages but considered a competitive rate in the Philippines.

Aiming to incorporate fair wages into fiscal accountability, Chi Zhang told Fortune, We pay 150% more than the average cashier job in the Philippines.

In a New York Times report, Will Jang, a Goldman Sachs employee, shared his personal encounter with these Filipino virtual assistants at a Yaso Kitchen branch in Jersey City.

Jang said he completely ignored Amber, the Filipino virtual host assisting him with his order, thinking it was some advertisement similar to pre-recorded videos in taxi cabs.

Its my first time to work in a work-from-home setup, Amber, whose image was displayed onscreen with a cartoon dumpling backdrop, said.

Like all virtual assistants from the Philippines, recognized as one of the largest English-speaking nations, Amber and other Filipinos working for Happy Cashiers speak perfect English.

Customers of Sansan Chicken interact with virtual cashiers who manage their orders a system that Zhang describes as efficient.

The help from Happy Cashier has successfully increased operational efficiencies, he said.

However, Zhangs concept has fueled debate. Critics argue that outsourcing puts pressure on domestic wages and can potentially transform industry standards.

Tefilo Reyes, chief of staff at nonprofit labor organization Restaurant Opportunities United, described the idea as alarming.

The fact that they have found a way to outsource work to another country is extremely troubling, Reyes told The New York Times.

Jonathan Bowles, Center for an Urban Future executive director, said the fast-food workforce is already shrinking and new technology could further transform the industry.

Zhang remains optimistic about his business concepts potential to reshape the food landscape, revealing plans to expand the employment of virtual assistants to over 100 restaurants by the end of the year.

Humble_Novice posted...

As minimum wages soar $16 in New York City and now $20 for fast food workers in California restaurant owners are feeling the pinch.

Fucking hilarious that that is "soaring." Lol

Fucking horrifying

Should be illegal.

JoeDangIt posted...

Should be illegal.

This kinda shit should be a life sentence.

Honestly any and all atempts to avoid fair wages or union bust should be a life sentence. Zero fucking tolerance.

Retroactively too. Arrest the whole leadership structure of the entire service industry for crimes against humanity.

Tbh this goes for most industry. Burn the entire power structure divy out their wealth and start over with far stricter laws on wages, union rights, worker rights, paid leave, sick leave, vacation time etc.

Lmao. Any outsourcing of labor to another country should be met with fines so big that they have no option but to bring the jobs back stateside.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Asmongold/comments/1c4tqgn/one_restaurant_in_long_island_city_queens_new/
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A reminder that it isn't that they can't afford those wages most of the time(I'm sure some smaller companies feel some stress at least) but because you're legally obligated to do what is best for your investors, which means showing growth. That means firing all those people who get pesky, annoying things like proper living wages.

Granted even if that weren't a requirement they'd still likely be doing this to maximize profits, it's the next best thing to slave labor.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1c0nebf/nyc_restaurants_use_zoom_cashiers_from_philippines/
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$3 / hr

California restaurant owners watching with interest

R_Jackal posted...

A reminder that it isn't that they can't afford those wages most of the time(I'm sure some smaller companies feel some stress at least) but because you're legally obligated to do what is best for your investors, which means showing growth. That means firing all those people who get pesky, annoying things like proper living wages.

Granted even if that weren't a requirement they'd still likely be doing this to maximize profits, it's the next best thing to slave labor.

We'll definitely see this tech spread to big chains eventually but the article is talking about a local chain that has like 3 restaurants total. Its not about pleasing a board of investors its about shitty owners who cant exploit the local immigrant work force as easily anymore moving on to the next best alternative.

If theyre paying less for workers they better drop the prices on the menu too.

A good portion of crowd crying about outsourcing manufacturing is now supporting outsourcing fast food labor.

hell, the fact anyones defending it is just sad. People are crazy man.

I bet they ask for a tip too.

We have to pay workers a little more so instead we opted for slave labor

Sputnik1337 posted...

We'll definitely see this tech spread to big chains eventually but the article is talking about a local chain that has like 3 restaurants total. Its not about pleasing a board of investors its about shitty owners who cant exploit the local immigrant work force as easily anymore moving on to the next best alternative.

I mean, Dominos has been doing it for a few years now.

Sputnik1337 posted...

We'll definitely see this tech spread to big chains eventually but the article is talking about a local chain that has like 3 restaurants total. Its not about pleasing a board of investors its about shitty owners who cant exploit the local immigrant work force as easily anymore moving on to the next best alternative.

That's what I meant. Stuff like that spreads quick when the little guy is done taking all the hate for the initial switch. That's why so many things are done in "test markets" for big companies, all the better when someone entirely unrelated can do it for you.

Lots of countries explot desperate Filipino people for cheap labor. They do it in Japan a lot. Not just factory work, but English teachers too. Low quality classes for cheap labor.

Yen sucks now though, so maybe Japanese people will go to the Phillipines to send money back home in the future?

Are some of you discovering for the first time that companies outsource labor to save costs? Why do you think you can buy cheap shit everywhere? You think they paid those people a fair wage? Shit I see people brag about needing undocumented workers for farm work in America so they can pay them less as if that's a good thing.

But what are they actually doing? If I'm ordering at a kiosk why does someone's face need to be on it?

PissedOffMonk posted...

If theyre paying less for workers they better drop the prices on the menu too.

I'm reminded of the Anakin/Padme meme.

Heineken14 posted...

Fucking hilarious that that is "soaring." Lol

We need to make ban pay low wages to overseas.

If the min wage is 12 dollars per hour. You should not be able to pay a worker overseas for less. It basically bypassing the law.

It's capitalism, they're just playing the game the way it's intended

superbot400 posted...

We need to make ban pay low wages to overseas.

If the min wage is 12 dollars per hour. You should not be able to pay a worker overseas for less. It basically bypassing the law.

That's how first world lifestyles work. If you weren't allowed to exploit cheap labor overseas you would literally be unable to afford the lifestyle you have. You're the global 1%, but the exploitation is largely invisible you so you can ignore it. This particular thing bothers you because you can see it.

superbot400 posted...

We need to make ban pay low wages to overseas.

If the min wage is 12 dollars per hour. You should not be able to pay a worker overseas for less. It basically bypassing the law.

I mean the companies are only doing it until AI is developed enough to do the jobs instead.

superbot400 posted...

We need to make ban pay low wages to overseas.

If the min wage is 12 dollars per hour. You should not be able to pay a worker overseas for less. It basically bypassing the law.

Wouldn't that just mean the end of global manufacturing?

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Not slave labor, but competitive wage doesnt mean a whole hell of a lot in a 3rd-world country where people literally cant find decent-paying jobs and a huge chunk of the population is living in abject poverty.

Id also like to see how these wages compare to other jobs (like call centers) that require decent enough English to do a job like this. Fluent English-speakers arent as common in the Philippines as you might think, so this job shouldnt really be compared to one offering the Filipino minimum wage.

I've been to this chicken place! It was weird! They have a little kiosk stand where a lady watches you on Webcam, and then you go around the corner to a seemingly different restaurant to pick up your order.

Companies have been outsourcing things like customer service for years. I'm usually surprised when I get someone on the line who doesn't have some sort of foreign accent. Only here we can see it face to face.

Yeah, government has to get in on this. SHOULD be illegal. Then again the explosive growth of wall street since the 90's was in big part thanks to outsourcing jobs and politicians aint voting against that.

The mask has really fallen from capital in my short lifetime.

I know this is very minor compared to all the other awfulness of capitalism, but how can people see things like this and still support our current system? Even going past the stupid idea of cashiers not being "real work" it's happening in so many other ways too and will continue until every job that can be outsourced will be.

Too bad both parties (yes, bOtH sIdEs! unironically) are controlled by the rich so there will never be any progress done to stop this.

Southernfatman posted...

I know this is very minor compared to all the other awfulness of capitalism, but how can people see things like this and still support our current system? Even going past the stupid idea of cashiers not being "real work" it's happening in so many other ways too and will continue until every job that can be outsourced will be.

Too bad both parties (yes, bOtH sIdEs! unironically) are controlled by the rich so there will never be any progress done to stop this.

Basically. As long as capitalism marches on neither side will ever really give a damn(hell, more likely they'll actually oppose) workers Rights or fair pay.