Pizza Today - July 2021 - 14

MAN ON THE STREET SCO TT WIENER
in its own pizza box ready for consumption.
A good example of the model is PizzaForno,
which currently has 28 machines
across Canada. You'll fi nd their machines
in parking lots or inside public spaces
like airports and hospitals. Th eir machine
pumps out a fresh pie in under fi ve minutes.
While your pizza bakes, the machine
shows a series of videos about the process
with a progress bar below. Customers even
have the option of grabbing a take-andbake
version of any pizza for about a dollar
less than a baked version. But that's about
the only option you have.
Since they store pre-made pies, there's
no option for customization. Based on
the videos and photos I've seen, nobody
has yet fi gured out how to bake a pizza
properly inside one of these machines. Th e
pizzas emerge from their boxes uncut, so
the customer has to fi gure that part out on
their own. It's clear that speed is prioritized
over quality. Th ese robotic pizza stations
aren't an imminent threat to independent
pizzerias. Th ey're either a novelty or they're
good for emergency situations.
Th at being said, I do think there's a lot
" The Robots are Coming! "
I
was so thoroughly terrifi ed the fi rst
time I saw Terminator 2. Th e idea that
artifi cial intelligence could bring on a
global apocalypse seemed eerily realistic. It's
been 30 years since that movie came out and
I'm no longer concerned about Terminators,
but I am concerned about robots taking
over...our pizzerias. Th ese past couple of
months I've received too many messages
about robotic pizza makers for them not to
be taken seriously.
My fi rst exposure to robo-pizza came
in 2016 when I met Zume co-founder
Julia Collins at Pizza Expo. She told
me about the company's vision of using
machine learning and AI to train an
army of pizza-bots. Th e idea was to send
par-baked pizzas out for delivery on trucks
outfi tted with dozens of ovens, which were
programmed to fi nish the bake while in
transit. Wild idea, but maybe too large in
scope. Zume raised hundreds of millions
of dollars but discontinued their pizza
delivery model in early 2020. Perhaps they
fl ew too close to the sun.
Th e vision for these new robotic pizza
solutions is much tighter; they're more like
vending machines than restaurant replacements.
A touch screen lets the user select
their pizza, which is prepped and baked
inside the standalone unit in a matter of
minutes. Once complete, the pie emerges
we can learn from the emerging robotic
pizza making industry.
1. People value speed, accuracy and
convenience.
2. Th e contact-free mindset we picked
up during COVID isn't going anywhere.
3. Th ere must be something going on
that I don't understand because investors
have already poured hundreds of millions
of dollars into this technology. Either that
or they're all just wrong.
I think the potential rise of the pizzabots
is a good reminder that what makes
independent pizzerias so special is the fact
that they're the opposite. Human contact,
whether with the dough or with the customer,
is what makes pizzerias so special.
Embrace that and you'll avoid a Terminator
apocalypse.
SCOTT WIENER is the founder of Scott's Pizza Tours in New York City and SliceOutHunger.org Instagram: @scottspizzatours
Image via Eduard/stock.adobe.com
14 / PIZZATODAY.COM / JULY 2021

http://www.SliceOutHunger.org http://Eduard/stock.adobe.com http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM

Pizza Today - July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - July 2021