Dive Brief:
- Donatos Pizza will open a fully autonomous location at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport next month, according to a Tuesday press release.
- The store is being developed by Donatos in conjunction with its sister company, Agápe Automation, and robotics company Appetronix. The location will be operated by HMSHost, a foodservice company that operates primarily on highways and in airports.
- Donatos said the location will operate 24/7 and consumers can watch robotic arms prepare their pizzas, lending the automated restaurant an experiential element.
Dive Insight:
Appetronix and Donatos have been working on a pizza vending machine partnership since 2023, and the airport pizzeria is the first fully automated location to open as a result.
The location could mark a shift in the restaurant industry, said Nipun Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Appetronix.
“This is more than innovation — it's a transformative leap for the QSR space,” Sharma said in the press release.
An airport environment is ideal for an automated pizza maker, as consumers are looking for speed and ease of access in such spaces, Kevin King, Donatos president and CEO, said in the press release.
The Columbus, Ohio, pizza robot is not the first effort to automate pizza making. In 2022, Capriotti’s and Piestro, for example, partnered to add a pizza kiosk to Capriotti’s flagship restaurant in Las Vegas. 800 Degrees Pizza, meanwhile, began adding automated pizza cabinets back in 2021.
