Could Google Glass Be the Best Way to Train Fast-Food Employees?

Yum Brands' fried-chicken emporium KFC was one of a handful of businesses to take part in a Google Glass "pilot program" to determine how the oft-maligned device might help with employee training. USA Today reports the pilot program "condensed an 80-page training handbook into a series of on-screen prompts" in Google Glass, which was then shown to new employees. The Glass program walked employees through everything from cooking chicken to closing down a store, and according to its developer, Interapt, the software resulted in faster training times. Interapt estimates that more-efficient training could ultimately save fast-food companies like KFC up to two percent in labor costs, translating to "millions of dollars" in savings. But fast-food franchise owners shouldn't get too excited yet: As Business Insider points out, the estimates — either in time saved or dollar amount — were not verified by KFC.

The culture war surrounding Google Glass in dining establishments has been brewing since 2013: Some restaurants preemptively banned the device (often citing privacy concerns), while others have been the unfortunate sites of Google Glass-related violence. Glass advocates, meanwhile, have often rallied against restaurant bans — perhaps they may soon feel at-home inside a KFC.