A question about Automats

[RealityChuck]

@Deidzoeb

There’s a Wikipedia entry on the Horn & Hardart chain that gives somewhat conflicting info about this.

Horn & Hardart - Wikipedia

“But Automats weren’t truly automatic. They were heavily staffed. As a customer removed a compartment’s contents, a behind-the-machine human quickly slipped another sandwich, salad, piece of pie or coffee cake into the vacated chamber.” (quoted from Crowley, Carolyn Hughes. “Meet Me at the Automat,” Smithsonian Magazine, August 2001.)

On the other hand, the subheading on the decline of H&H says: “The restaurants remained popular into the 1960s with automats, sit-down waitress service restaurants, cafeterias, and bakery shops.”
The fact that they contrast “automats” next to “sit-down waitress service restaurants” seems to imply automats had no waitresses.

I give the tv show credit for remembering or researching the fact that automats were a thing in the 40s. Maybe they can be excused for this lapse if we assume the waitress is mainly bussing tables. Maybe part of her complaint about the harassing customers is that they expect her to act like a full-service waitress. I could have sworn she poured coffee in one episode though.

You’re misreading things. Reread the passage: “a*** behind-the-machine human*** quickly slipped another sandwich, salad, piece of pie or coffee cake into the vacated chamber.”

You could see people working behind the machines (each of the doors had a glass door on the kitchen side, so the staff could see what needed replenishing).

The basic operation was that the behind-the-machine staff would put an item in the compartment (they were designed to keep foot hot or cold as necessary, so you could have hot food like meat loaf) and shut the door. A customer would purchase the item. The staff would see the spot was empty and replace what was there.

No one ever brought food to you. The only people working the floor were the people giving change or those busing tables.

Automats didn’t make their money selling burgers. They had them, but it meant the burgers would sit (unwrapped) in the warming chamber; if there wasn’t a lot of turnover, they were very unimpressive. They made their (food) reputation on sandwiches and desserts and coffee. Their hot entrees would be baked things like meat loaf, and their potatoes were far more likely to be mashed than fried. McDonald’s burgers were wrapped, and the fries better.

In addition, the automats were a strictly big-city phenomenon. McDonald’s was suburban at first (with plenty of parking) and did a better job with fried foods. It was a different niche, but one that burgeoned in the 50s and 60s.

[Voyager]

@RealityChuck

Horn and Hardarts (I ate at several in the 1950s and 60s) had not waitstaff. Coffee came from a spigot; you put in a coin and it would fill the cup. Food was kept behind windows. Someone staffed the cash register and others bussed the tables and cleaned up. Most people were in the kitchen, behind the wall, and they’d fill up any empty compartments.

Hot water was free (but you’d pay for a tea bag). I’ve seen accounts of people who would fill a cup with it and with ketchup from the dispenser for some free “soup.” Though you had to make sure no one caught you.

Automats did not have wait staff, except for busing tables. Certainly the only people I remember at the one on 42nd street didn’t have waiters. This was in the '60s.
However there were other Horn and Hardarts with table service, one was the go to place after the movies near my house. I think they had Automat style coffee dispensers but I didn’t drink coffee back then so I never used them.