Growth Ritual #72
📋 IN THIS ISSUE: The New Economy Coming with Robots 🎲 How a Single Dice Roll Powered a 30 % Sales Surge
The New Economy Coming with Robots
For years, the robots we watched in sci-fi movies have quietly started becoming a part of our lives. And most of us aren’t even fully aware of it.
Today, self-driving cars, cashierless stores, and automated ordering systems are becoming commonplace in our daily routines.
In this sense, the food industry has become one of the sectors most rapidly transformed by technology. Robots are entering our dining tables; from our eating habits to restaurant layouts, everything is being reshaped at breakneck speed. And this change isn’t limited to food. A transformation is underway in the business world, offering valuable lessons for everyone.
You walk into a restaurant in Tokyo and place your order via a tablet. Peering through the kitchen window, you see a robotic arm named Flippy flipping burgers, with no human hand involved in the aroma filling the air.
Your meal arrives at your table in 12 minutes, delivered by an autonomous delivery robot.
Human involvement? Virtually nonexistent.
According to a 2024 study, approximately 68% of fast-food restaurants in the U.S. have adopted technologies like automated order kiosks and robotic kitchen systems. These innovations are being used to speed up operations and reduce labor costs by up to 50%.
In the future, from preparation to delivery, your food will barely involve any human touch. This marks the beginning of a new era that sets new standards for efficiency and cost savings.
This isn’t just about food. It’s a significant lesson for entrepreneurs in every industry.
Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens project or Amazon’s cashierless Just Walk Out stores are prime examples. Machines and software are seamlessly producing hundreds of personalized meals, products, or services per hour.
The next phase: fully automated kitchens integrated with self-driving delivery vehicles.
The two complement each other so well that expensive human couriers are being replaced by tireless, break-free robots.
This creates a significant competitive advantage, especially for fast-casual chains and online ordering brands.
It’s now widely recognized that artificial intelligence has sparked profound changes across all areas of life. From chat assistants to content creation, customer service to software development, many industries have been transformed by this shift.
But there’s another big question: Will the same disruptive transformation occur in the physical world?
The answer is a resounding yes.
AI-powered robots are performing physical tasks with precision while also learning human-like intuition and flexibility.
And they do so flawlessly, tirelessly, and far more quickly.
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, Hyundai’s logistics robots, and Tesla’s Optimus have already moved beyond the testing phase and started performing their first tasks in factories.
According to a 2024 Gartner report, by 2030, robots and AI-based systems will take over 20% of the global workforce’s tasks.
This spans not just manufacturing but also logistics, healthcare, security, and service industries.
Robots and Societal Transformation: What Will Change?
This transformation won’t just reshape the business world—it will also transform social life. According to a 2024 Pew Research study, 62% of workers believe their jobs will be fully or partially automated within the next decade.
Key trends to watch in the near future:
Workforce structure will change: As physical tasks are handed over to robots, humans will shift toward more creative and problem-solving roles.
“Robot Tax” debates will emerge: To balance job losses in affected sectors, discussions about taxing robot-driven labor will gain traction.
New professions will arise: Roles like robot training, AI ethics consulting, and robot-workforce integration expertise will enter our lives.
Social life and human interaction will evolve: With routine tasks delegated to robots, human-centric professions, personal development, and social interaction will take center stage.
According to Oxford University’s “Future of Employment” report, by 2030, 60% of restaurant services and 30% of healthcare services will be provided by robots.
This means everything from city infrastructure to social security systems will need to be redesigned.
What to Do, How to Think?
It’s crucial to evaluate automation not just by its current costs but by its long-term efficiency and competitive advantages. Identifying which processes consume the most resources and transforming them can make a big difference.
Look at what’s being done in other industries and consider ideas that could be adapted to your own business. Sometimes, an innovation from another sector could become the critical piece of your business model.
Consider how to combine existing technologies to achieve unprecedented efficiency or customer experiences in your industry. The real competition lies in these integrations.
And perhaps most importantly, clarify what the customer gains from this change.
Speed? Price? Experience?
Whichever you prioritize will shape your business model.
And Maybe…
Maybe the question isn’t how robots will change our lives. It’s about what we humans will do in this new world. No one but us will design the new professions, new cities, and new standards of living.
If machines are taking over the jobs of cashiers, couriers, and some chefs today… how much of your job will you be doing tomorrow, and how much will systems take over? And will you dedicate the time freed up to building a better life, or will you become another cog in a different machine?
That might be the critical question we need to address.
🎲 How a Single Dice Roll Powered a 30 % Sales Surge
The Dishoom restaurant chain wants to boost its sales before 6 PM and says:
“Come in before 6 PM, have your meal, roll the dice — if you get a 6, your meal is free.”
At first glance, it just looks like a fun little game. But when you look at the numbers, you realize how clever the idea really is.
That’s house-edge math every casino would envy. What seems like generosity is really a deft lesson in behavioral economics, revealing how variable rewards can nudge customers to spend (and show up earlier) without feeling sold to.
Behind the curtain, three psychological engines hum in perfect sync:
Commitment Bias – Once diners decide to “gamble,” they’re already picturing the free meal, so ordering that extra naan feels justified.
Scarcity & Urgency – The 6 p.m. cutoff creates a mini-deadline, pulling traffic from slower shoulder hours.
Social Proof Loops – Every Instagram story of a lucky table yelling “SIX!” is a free micro-ad that keeps the funnel primed.
Tech products can hijack the exact same circuitry:
Subscription apps sprinkle “mystery boxes” of premium features for power users.
Fin-techs run limited-time cashback dice rolls at checkout to lift average order value.
Loyalty programs stagger surprise tiers instead of fixed milestones to keep dopamine dripping.
Want to try this in software?
Treat probability like a budget line: set the “win” cost ≤ uplift margin, cap the exposure with dynamic throttling, and A/B test the odds into profitability. Layer on push-notification teasers (“You’ve got a 1-in-5 shot today”) and you’ve hard-wired excitement straight into daily active use.
In short, Dishoom didn’t leave growth to chance; they engineered it.
Roll the right dice in your product, and you, too, can turn a playful gimmick into compounding revenue—no Michelin star required.
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Call me old fashioned at 74 but still running a tech co. (Boomers dont die they just fade away) but still the customer service reigns supreme. How does that work with robots? Why does anyone go to a restaurant with no customer service, no specials, mo advice, no sommelier. Youvare describing a soulless environment where people go to stop being hungry- way different to going out to eat. Imagine taking a new girlfriend out for the evening and turning up to a restaurant with no staff. Its the one and only time you will do it for that girl. You are describing a supermarket that sells hot food on a plate - not a restaurant. How does the robot thing work for street food?
Sounds all great with technology but where is the human angle?