The ex-CEO of McDonald’s has suggested substituting workers for robots after protests about the minimum wage freeze.

The fast food giant has faced an enormous retaliation from its workforce because of its reluctance to increase the minimum wage.

And now the company’s former US boss Ed Rensi has warned that McDonald’s could bring in robots to replace its staff is the minimum wage is increased to $15 (£10) an hour.

Having served as the company’s US CEO in the 90s, Rensi has stated his belief that a rise in the minimum wage would result in unprecedented national job losses.

Rensi said that his views are based on a recent visit to the National Restaurant Show where he witnessed the potential of robots to work in the restaurant business.

He said that it makes much more financial sense to hire a robotic arm to bag french fries than to pay an inefficient employee.

He continued by saying that robots will not just be limited to working in the fast food industry and that franchising is the leading US business model because it depends on people with low job skills who need to grow.

Rensi added that it is common sense for companies to start replacing its workers with robots because they are cheaper and more efficient.

He concluded by stating that the influx of robots into the fast food industry is inevitable whether people like it or not and that the more people protest against minimum wage freezes the faster it will happen.

Meanwhile, those fighting to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour have devoted much of their energy on directly protesting against McDonald’s.

While New York and California have already agreed to laws that will see the minimum wage rise to $15 an hour, the organisers of the movement have insisted that they will not cease their protests until workers all across the country are paid that rate.