Page 26 - och1016_Magazine

Grab ’n Go

Automated
Treat
Machines

Xavier and USC Add Food ATMs

It used to be that when someone went to an ATM, it was box opens up and then the disk in there gets raised and puts
to grab some cash. But now, on two college campuses, the pizza in the oven. The box never really goes in the oven,
students are able to grab something to eat. but the disk does. Then it reverses and puts it out for you to
walk away with. It is in the same box.”
XAVIER
At Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, students craving Devoid said that they are averaging 50 pies a night, and can
get up to 90 on the weekends. “It is available 24 hours a day. It
a hot pizza can get one anytime they want from the new ATM is a way to do late-night without having a lot of staff around.”
on campus. “These things have been in existence in France
for 14 years,” said Edward Devoid, senior director of Dining ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY
Service with Chartwells, the campus foodservice provider.
“The importer of the ATM, Paline, is located in Cincinnati.
Somebody knew somebody and told the Auxiliary Services
here to check it out. They looked at it and said we had to have
one … and here we go. We brought the first one in.”

News of the launch of the Pizza ATM went viral quickly,
with stories on Good Morning America, and millions of hits
on Facebook and Twitter, according to Devoid. He said that
there was a common misconception in the reaction to the
launch. “It doesn’t make pizzas, it cooks them,” he said. “It
is ingenious how it does it, but we make the pizzas. We are
making a 12-inch pizza. We do the bases, which is the dough
and sauce. Then when we are ready, we top them with whatever
toppings we are putting on, pre-bake them in our Wood Stone
oven, put them in a box and then load it into the machine. The
customer can’t customize the pizzas because they can only
select what is available in the machine.”

Initially, the school is offering three varieties — cheese,
pepperoni and supreme — but will offer more when the novelty
wears off and students want to try other varieties. “Customers
get a handmade artisan pizza,” said Devoid. “It is refriger-
ated in the unit. The lifespan is more than 48 hours, but they
are moving too quickly for us to be sure. We had to convert
everything they do overseas and make adjustments with what
we can get. It hasn’t been an issue so far. We are making great
looking and tasting pizzas.”

When a student selects a pizza, it is cooked in the unit
for them. “It has an impinger oven in there,” he said. “It is
the most amazing thing. If you punch in your selection out
front, the machine picks it up, brings it down and forces it
through a door onto the oven side. The oven moves it so the

26 | OCTOBER 2016