I Tried Robot Pizza in Jersey — I'm Sorry, It's Fantastic

Speaker 1: I'm at a pizza shop in New Jersey where all the pizzas are made by machine. Yeah. You heard me, New Jersey. Speaker 2: Wow. That's really Speaker 1: Cool. They take their pizza pretty seriously here and yet they're calling this the future of pizza. So let's have a taste of what the future is. Shall we? I have to try it. This feels wild. Not, not, not, not there. I'm I'm not a robot. Not yet. At Speaker 3: Least Speaker 1: I didn't actually think it would taste amazing. [00:00:30] You are not a robot. Speaker 2: I am not a robot. We have humans that actually work there. Believe it or Speaker 3: Not. Speaker 1: I am fascinated by what you've done here, because you are in an area where they take their pizza pretty seriously. And yet, seriously, you have robots making pizza. Speaker 2: Making pizza specifically is a specialized scale. So what we built was a automated process that essentially [00:01:00] functions as an assembly line to make mass quantities of, of pizza. Right? And we built something that has a three foot of around 300 pies an hour right now that said we are in the, the most passionate pizza market in the entire world. The bottom line is if it tastes good, right? The average, consumer's not gonna care how it's made. So there's certainly been some, you know, questions on, well, Hey, how good can this be? Really be? And we know that the proof is gonna be in the pudding. Proof's [00:01:30] in the pudding. Speaker 1: We gotta check this thing Speaker 2: Out. Let's do it. Speaker 1: The machine behind it all is called the picnic pizza station. It's made from a company out of Seattle, Washington. Now pizza HQ is one of the very first restaurants to go all in on this modular system that dispenses sauce, cheese, and toppings. And this setup that drops down pepperoni and three other toppings can cost a restaurant up to $4,500 to lease every month. But Matt and his crew installed a few additional machines around [00:02:00] the kitchen to automate more than just drop it down. Toppings. These are coming out fast. Speaker 2: Oh yeah. So this is, uh, the process from start to finish. So first we have another human first thing he's doing is, is using our do press, right? Helps us make a 16 inch pie consistently every single time. This is a, a modular piece of robotics equipment that helps us auto sauce, auto cheese auto topping. What's really cool about it. Is this iPad [00:02:30] right here. This is the ordering system, um, that essentially controls the machine. The very first thing that happens in this module system right here is it takes like a split second to recognize that there's a pipe there and it can connect to the iPad and then it feeds it through, um, these are all refrigerated, right? Um, so the only thing that, that we have to do is pay attention to refilling the actual containers and the dispensers. Speaker 1: Have you ever talked to them, them about desserts [00:03:00] and stuff? <laugh> like, like, could you, could you, where, where, what are the limitations for what kind of topping people put in him? Speaker 2: It's really based on the consistency of the topping. Right. Speaker 1: Okay. So he explained that toppings do need to be a certain size to not get jammed up. He has to custom order his mozzarella to be shredded in a certain way, but the me toppings, he picked are the most frequently ordered right now. He's got pepperoni, meatball, sausage and mushroom loaded in for our test for the customer that just wants something special, like say black olives [00:03:30] or pineapple try before you deny the team has to add those on by hand. Speaker 2: The next step really is the almond, which is massive. It is a specialized pizza oven, very different than the traditional deck oven that you see in pizzerias. First off it's conveyor belt, this is a hot stone conveyor belt oven. So it basically preps the, the cross to be very crispy doughy, right? Like that perfect New York, New Jersey style cross that the market expects. So all in [00:04:00] all you're looking at around, you know, seven and a half minutes to a, uh, finished product. Wow. We put it on these, uh, these cutting boards. It's a uniform slicer. It cuts the pies into eight perfect slices every time. Speaker 1: Obviously this whole system seems like a lot when a human can also do this, but the key is that they can pump out a ton faster for those big birthday and school orders. And they get the price of the pie to 9 99. So what's the biggest order [00:04:30] you you've had to do so far? Or have you put it to the test? Oh Speaker 2: Yeah. So there's a couple of school suppliers that we work with that Friday mornings. We gotta get close to 300 pies out the dorm. Speaker 1: Can I just go in and grab it? You have to grab it like pretty well. This is good. I mean, it's really hot. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: But I can tell I would order this. Absolutely. It's amazing. It's crispy. It's thin the sauce is good too. It's Speaker 2: Rich. Yeah. It's [00:05:00] very flavorful. Speaker 1: No, I would not guess this was made by a robot or machine. Yeah. And I think, I think the other judge is also kids. Like, I, I, I think, I think my kids would, would, would be good with this. Yeah. So while I struggle with that cheese, um, I should explain you are gonna see these machines pop up in more and more places. The picnic pizza system has been doing pilot tests at college campuses, including Texas a and M and university of Chicago. They've had these machines at T-Mobile park, which is where the Mariners play. And it's also been tested at convention [00:05:30] centers. And in some theme parks, I didn't see any technical problems. There were no jam up while we were there. And they did make quite a few pizzas for us that we were happy to keep testing. Picnic is not the only company making machines to pop out faster pizzas. Speaker 1: There's the grody food service machine that makes up to 45 pizzas a minute, but you still need to cook the suckers. And then there's stellar pizza in LA. It's got a machine inside, a truck that plops down dough and handles to and feeds it [00:06:00] all into an oven. And there's even the pizza making vending machine called Litz pizza. And it's got some robotic arms spitting everything around, making a pie in three minutes over at pizza HQ, by freeing up some humans from babysitting the pie. Matt says they can spend more resources on ingredients on delivery drivers and getting marketing and sales help machines are becoming more commonplace in restaurants as a solution to the changes. These days in labor and staffing, more [00:06:30] robots are flipping fast, food burgers and fries. You just don't always see how robots are helping in the kitchen. They made so many pizzas for us. I'm taking another pie home. I'll be eating pizza for a while, but that's okay. That's research. You know, I'm glad the team gave us a behind the scenes, look at how it all works. Clearly. It's not all robots. There's still some human touch involved. It's just about where the human touch is. That's the secret sauce, right? It's maybe not about a human sprinkling, the cheese on, but where they put the resources in different [00:07:00] ways. My kids loved the leftovers that night. And I even had some in the morning cold pizza test Speaker 3: Still good, Speaker 1: But I kept thinking I needed to cleanse my pallet with a proper New York pizza test and get a slice around the corner from the office. So it's been a day and I can stop thinking about how good pizza HQ was. And it was made by a robot. All I've been eating is robot pizza [00:07:30] since then. And so I had to really come to a legit New York pizza joint to give it a comparison, to give it a true test. And maybe it cleanse my palate and heal my New York soul. I actually like the Speaker 4: Other one better. Speaker 1: I mean, pizza, a subjective, but why is the robot better? This is average. It's greasy, big match slice. But the other one just tasted better. Speaker 4: [00:08:00] It's crazy. Speaker 1: I don't wanna like the robot better so that the pizza of the future, maybe the future ain't so bad, if this makes sense in your neighborhood, let me know. Or if you just absolutely hate the idea, let me know that too. I gave it a try. Would you? Thanks for watching. I'd be sure to like, and subscribe because I'll be coming out with more episodes of trying different, crazy things that are popping up in our life. Like robots, making better food.