What’s more, it’s open 24 hours a day
Britain now has its first pizza vending machine – but you can only find it in the city of Bristol.
The first pizza vending machine of its kind in the UK, it has been opened by a restaurant in Bedminster, an area in Bristol’s south side.
The pizza vending machine has been installed at Pizza Bella, a fixture of Bristol’s Italian restaurant scene for years. The owner came up with the idea as a way of maintaining sales – and keeping pizza lovers happy – during lockdown.
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It aims to provide customers with freshly cooked pizza in just three minutes. Handy, really – as you wouldn’t want to wait around much longer in this weather.
Like any other device of this nature, the Pizza Bella vending machine works via touchscreen. But the restaurant say they haven’t sacrificed quality in order to make this possible. You have the option of choosing from a wide range of hot, freshly-cooked, stone-baked pizzas. There are also plenty of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options too.
Speaking to BristolLive, Pizza Bella owner Sina Kiaei said the machine provides an invaluable source of income at a time when the restaurant sector has been decimated by Covid-19 restrictions.
He said: “We were shut for two months in the first lockdown and I had a lot of time to think about how to adapt to the changing times.
“I was thinking about how to somehow become a drive-thru, but that’s not possible – we’re on a main road.
“So I came across this, it’s just started out in France, and I had this one shipped over from France. It’s been open since Monday and already everyone is loving it.”
You simply select your pizza, pay by card and then wait three minutes for your order to appear. It’s also open 24 hours a day. Behind the scenes, the pizzas are part-cooked and kept in a giant refrigerator. When you place an order, the machine selects your pizza, cooks it in the oven, places it in a box, and hands it you through the bottom of the vending machine.
If you’re not a Bristolian, travelling to the West Country just to get your hands on a vending machine pizza may be a little excessive, and certainly off the cards until the new lockdown measures are lifted nationwide.
However, with another pizza vending machine set to open in Glasgow, there is always a chance one could soon arrive in a town near you.
