ANN ARBOR – The future is here and it smells like fresh pizza.
PizzaForno’s automated pizza vending machines have made their way to Ann Arbor with a new location between Starbuck’s and Panchero’s at 1210 South University Ave.
The ATM-style walk-up window serves eight varieties of hot pizza cooked in just three minutes while you wait. Customers order via touch-screen and pay via a credit card reader, then, after a short wait, receive a piping hot pizza pie in a box.
The Canadian company made its US debut last spring in downtown Jackson. Based off the success of their three locations there, Jacksonians Adam Page and Tim Ekpo, who imported the machines after first seeing them trip to Toronto, decided to expand the 24/7 concept to the closest college town.
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The walk-up stations take up only 70 square feet and use a proprietary convection oven to cook refrigerated pre-prepared pies in just three minutes. The machines are stocked daily with handmade pizzas from the company’s Jackson-based prep center.
A robotic arm slides each pizza off their refrigerated storage rack and onto a conveyor, where a tray pushes the pie - box and all - into the convection oven. Key to the process is the box’s construction, which allows the pizza to be propped up and lifted off the bottom of the box so that hot air can flow around it.
PizzaForno brings vending machine pizza format to Ann Arbor
After just three minutes at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, the box is pushed back onto the conveyor, the lid is folded tight and the pizza sits for a second or two to cool before sliding out a slot in the front of the machine.
Prices range from $10 to $13, dependent on the toppings. Pizzas can also be purchased cold to reheat at home.
Toppings include pepperoni, Hawaiian, BBQ chicken and vegetarian honey and goat cheese. The company has plans to put up additional PizzaForno machines throughout Ann Arbor, and the entrepreneurs have already expanded to Tecumseh.
Page says the key to the business’ success is the ease with which the company can license the concept to local businesses and retail space owners. For a fee, the company will install an outdoor or indoor vending machine inside a partner business and do all the work of stocking and maintaining it, cutting the owners a check for the profits.
He says the Jackson locations saw a lot of interest around the time they launched, and have since settled into the company’s projected volume of about 28 to 30 pizzas per day. In Ann Arbor, they see the potential for multiple locations which can cater to the city’s tech-friendly foodie culture.
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