Customers at the Jack in the Box on Scripps Poway Parkway place orders on a self-serve kiosk.

Some new order takers at a few local fast-food restaurants never punch in late, never take breaks, never complain, never ask for vacation time, and work, sometimes ’round the clock, for a buck an hour.

They’re touch-screen, self-serve kiosks customers use to place and pay for orders, and they’re said to be the way of the future in the quick serve restaurant arena, just as automated teller machines were in the banking industry, and more recently, self-serve kiosks that dispense boarding passes at airports.

Predictions vary from one to four years as to how long it will be before they become standard fixtures. According to analysts, most big chains, including San Diego’s Jack in the Box, are sticking a toe in the water before they jump in.

“But it’s a matter of when and not if …,” said Carl Winston, director of San Diego State University’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Program.

“Restaurants are dealing with labor issues and the need for cost savings, and at some point their customers get fed up with incorrect orders and say, ‘Give me a machine,’ ” Winston said.

Eager To Be A Leader

Yet EMN8, which just installed six custom-made, self-serve kiosks at three San Diego Jack in the Box restaurants, is certain that quick-serve restaurants are poised and ready to climb on the bandwagon. And the University Towne Center manufacturer is confident of being a leading supplier when that happens.

“There are not many competitors, just a couple of us trying to do this, but nobody has come close to our installation base,” said co-founder Paul Monahan. He’s also a co-founder of Hollywood-based REZN8, a leading graphic designer of Microsoft’s X Box.

To date, 4-year-old EMN8 has sold or leased 112 devices — most within the last year — to several chains.

Steve Donly, the firm’s president and chief executive officer, said that tally includes 27 at Disneyland and Disney World, and it just signed a contract to place self-serve machines for testing at 12 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shops in Los Angeles.

“We’re growing so quickly that you can ask what the total is every day, and every day you’ll get a different answer,” said Donly. “Basically, within the last 10 months we’ve seen growth of several thousand percent.” Projecting that EMN8 will install roughly 1,200 devices at 800 locations in 2007, he said that it will “grow exponentially after that.”

Before joining EMN8 two months ago, Donly served as president of Aramark Work Apparel & Uniform Services, a division of Philadelphia-based Aramark food service.

In addition to Jack in the Box and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, EMN8’s client list includes such high-profile chains as Burger King, Taco Bell, Carl’s Jr. and Pacific Theatres.