A late-night search for a Grand Slam breakfast in Collinsville is the reason a corner of downtown Alton will soon have a robot flipping patties, mixing cocktails and pulling espresso shots. Mac's Downtown has broken ground on a robot-equipped space on the north side of its building facing West Fourth Street, with plans for a cooking robot, a robot bartender and a customer-ordering kiosk that could keep food coming on weekends until 3 or 4 a.m.
The idea traces back to a night when Rob Lenhardt, who co-owns Mac's Downtown with his father, Mac Lenhardt, was driving home after working 10 or 12 hours and stopped at a Denny's in Collinsville looking for a late meal, according to the Alton Telegraph. The staff there couldn't serve him food because they didn't have enough workers at that hour, and he learned the Waffle House down the road in Collinsville had the same staffing problem, per the Denny's staff. That gap in late-night options is what got him thinking there was a market nobody was filling.
After weeks of mulling it over, Lenhardt landed on an all-robotic concept rather than just hiring more overnight staff. The planned space will include a robot that cooks food to order, a kiosk where customers place their own orders, and a robot bartender that can also switch over to barista mode, making cappuccinos, frappuccinos and regular coffee. Lenhardt says the robot-cooked food will be prepared the same way as everything else already on Mac's menu.
Why Robots Instead of More Staff
Lenhardt argues robots solve a problem human employees can't: fatigue. He said robots don't get tired and can deliver consistent quality overnight, which matters for a business aiming to stay open on weekends until 3 or 4 a.m. serving food, according to the same report. He's also run the numbers on cost — estimating robots could cut labor costs by 30% to 40%, which he believes could eventually bring hamburger prices down to $8 or $10 instead of $15.
Don't expect a tip jar at the robot counter, though. Lenhardt has said customers aren't expected to tip a robot, a small but telling detail about how differently this corner of the restaurant is meant to operate. Even so, Mac's Downtown will still need human workers on hand to oversee the robots and handle prep, facilitation, and opening and closing duties — this isn't a fully unmanned operation.
A Growing Business Betting on Automation
Mac's Downtown isn't a small operation to begin with. The business, established in the early 1980s, now spans seven buildings across an entire block in Alton, per the Belleville News-Democrat, with its main address listed at 315 Belle St. Lenhardt expects total employment to grow from more than 100 workers currently to closer to 150 by 2027, even as the robot section comes online.
He's also bracing for pushback. Lenhardt expects some backlash over using artificial intelligence and robots that could be seen as taking jobs away from people, the Telegraph reports. He said he doesn't think robot cooks have been tried before, especially in the Midwest, though that belief is his own assessment rather than an independently confirmed first. To prepare, he researched robot servers already running in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and at the Texas Rangers' ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
How It Compares to Robots Already Working Elsewhere
Those research trips weren't far-fetched. Globe Life Field debuted a robot bartender named ADAM ahead of the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, a system that combines artificial intelligence, sensors and two robotic arms to pour drinks alongside human bartenders, according to WFAA. In Los Angeles, the restaurant Tigawok uses automated wok machines that can stir-fry, stew, boil and simmer at temperatures up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, though Eater LA notes it requires five or six people to run the restaurant during peak hours, while human workers prep ingredients at a central kitchen.
Closer to home, some St. Louis-area restaurants already lean on robots to carry food from kitchen to table. Las Fuentes runs four locations between St. Louis and Jefferson counties where robots deliver meals and bus tables at roughly $30 a day to operate, FOX 2 St. Louis reported. St. Louis Magazine has also pointed to Basil India and Cathy's Kitchen in Ferguson, where a robot named Plato handles food delivery.
Nationally, the pressure to automate is tied to a staffing crunch. The National Restaurant Association has reported that four in five restaurant operators consider themselves understaffed, including 81% of full-service operators, a dynamic cited by FOX 2 St. Louis in its coverage of robot servers. That said, the broader restaurant industry has also been adding jobs, with eating and drinking places gaining a net 10,800 positions in September 2026 after a 33,800-job jump in August, according to the National Restaurant Association.
A Back To The Future Touch
Lenhardt is leaning into a bit of theme-park flair for the new section. He's considering naming the robotic area “Mac's to the Future,” inspired partly by watching Back to the Future with his 5-year-old son, and has floated the idea of parking a DeLorean outside the restaurant to match. It's a playful wrinkle on what is otherwise a serious bet on automation reshaping how late-night dining works in Alton.
