This is a good attempt at a thought experiment but it doesn’t bear out at all in the evidence.
You need a fixed number of people to run a restaurant, there’s only so many positions to be filled. You aren’t hiring on extra people and spending a certain amount on labor, they’ll just pocket any excess.
You can invest in automation but today that’s at a cost higher than paying a living wage and with lower service quality.
> You need a fixed number of people to run a restaurant
What? Just varying restaurant hours changes labour requirements. Menu complexity adds another dimension. Quality of service another. Restaurants are highly variable-cost businesses.
You need a fixed number of people to run a restaurant, there’s only so many positions to be filled. You aren’t hiring on extra people and spending a certain amount on labor, they’ll just pocket any excess.
You can invest in automation but today that’s at a cost higher than paying a living wage and with lower service quality.