Artisanal pizza machines a big hit for Aramark Canada

or Aramark Canada, a pizza machine that could cook and serve an artisanal pizza from a refrigerated state in three minutes was a no-brainer.

"Twenty-four hour, seven-day-a-week service has always been in demand, especially in health care," said Louise Hudson, vice president of marketing at Aramark Canada food solutions. "We saw this as such a great opportunity to provide fresh hot meals to that third shift in our business."

Which explains why Aramark Canada became one of the first customers for PizzaForno shortly after the machine became available in late 2018.

"We were very impressed with the quality of the pizza and the overall experience, which was incredible," Hudson told Vending Times in a phone interview. "Two and a half years ago, it was very new to the marketplace here in Canada."

Aramark Canada's food solutions group, which does not include the company's vending and refreshments services division, saw PizzaForno as a natural fit for health care, higher education and business dining accounts.

Customers respond

When the company deployed its first PizzaForno in March 2020 at a hospital, Hudson described the customer response as "just incredible."

Many customers were surprised that the machine cooked the pizza from a refrigerated as opposed to a frozen state.

"The customers were very, very surprised at how delicious and fresh the pizza is," Hudson said.

The machine (48-by-96-by-80-inches) holds 70 hand-made pizzas. The customer can choose from eight varieties on a 23-inch touchscreen and pay using a phone or credit card. A robotic arm then pulls the pizza from the refrigerated chamber, removes it from the box and cooks it in the convection oven for two and a half minutes.

Customers can also opt to take home a cold pizza, which usually costs $11.99 CN ($9.94 US), which is about a dollar less than the baked version.

Food preparation on site

Becoming a PizzaForno licensee was a natural fit for the foodservice contractor, which prepares its entrees at customer kitchens.

Aramark employees prepare the pizza at the customer's kitchen using PizzaForno's recipes and stock the machines, which are usually located near but not inside the manual foodservice counter.

The system's software allows Hudson's team to monitor the machine inventory in real time, enabling them to restock the machine as needed. The software allows them to schedule a restock notification based on a set inventory level.

COVID-19 sustains demand

Prior to the pandemic, Hudson said the Aramark service staff was restocking the machine several times a day.

The demand declined as manual feeding operations closed during the pandemic, but the machines continued to serve customers.

"Pre-pandemic we witnessed an increased demand for the availability of convenient, freshly prepared foods 24 hours a day, seven days a week, specifically in our healthcare locations," Hudson said. "Now, amidst this pandemic, we have entered into a new stage of profound change. Customers have new preferences and have adopted new behaviors over the last year. The consumers are looking for that low-touch, no-touch solution."

Aramark has since deployed four more PizzaForno machines in health care and higher education accounts.

The company does not offer any other pizza in its manual foodservice operations that have the PizzaForno machine, except for one hospital that has its own pizza brand in a cafeteria location that is not in the machine's vicinity.

The product waste factor has been "very very low," Hudson said, and there have been no service issues with the machines.

The PizzaForno software does not integrate with Aramark's POS software.

The machines do not take mobile payment, but Hudson said this will be available in the future.

Meanwhile, she is anxious to offer the PizzaForno app that will allow customers to order pizza ahead and pick it up by scanning a code at the machine, a benefit that PizzaForno was working on at the time of this report.

Hudson expects to add 10 pizza machines in the next six months.

Robotic saladmaker

PizzaForno hasn't been Aramark Canada's only foray into foodservice vending.

Last June, the company introduced a Chowbotics robotic saladmaker in one of its accounts.

"They (the customers) can create their own based on personal preference or they can opt in for one of our signature salads," Hudson said.

She envisions saladmakers going into education and business dining locations as well as health care. The saladmaker rollouts were put on hold during the pandemic, but they are scheduled to resume soon.

As customer locations reopen their manual cafeterias, Hudson expects both the PizzaForno and Chowbotics machines will continue to be popular, thanks to the convenience, product quality and safety benefits.

Pictures courtesy of Aramark Canada.