Vending machines dispensing pizza have been slowly breaking into the U.S. market, with one company recently starting tests of its product at Florida convenience stores.
Pizza Touch has a vending machine in a Lakeland Mobil Mart, and two others in Orlando. Soon, the company will place 100 pizza vending machines at convenience stores and other locations throughout the Sunshine State.
“First, it’s something new in the United States,” said Gisella Sandra of Pizza Touch. “Second, people here have a busy lifestyle. They don’t have time to stop and eat. To have a hot pizza ready to go in two minutes, that’s a great thing.”
Currently, Pizza Touch machines dispense cheese, mushroom-and-pepperoni and margherita pizzas in a personal size on white cardboard.
Pizza Touch chose Florida to debut its vending machines primarily because of its tourist trade.
“But the general reason is that Florida is a very rapidly growing state,” said Steven Kirn, executive director of the retail education and research center at the University of Florida. “It’s a reasonably good mirror of the population. Demographically, it’s a pretty good place to try stuff out.”
