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Sounds like a really, really over-engineered solution. Especially since, as the article states, people want hand-crafted food nowadays. The pizzerias that are

Sounds like a really, really over-engineered solution. Especially since, as the article states, people want hand-crafted food nowadays. The pizzerias that are thriving right now are the ones making neapolitan style pizza in wood ovens, Pizza Hut and Little Caesars barely exist around here anymore.

Alex3917 9y ago
> The pizzerias that are thriving right now are the ones making neopolitan style pizza in wood ovens Right now in NYC the going price for a Neopolitan-style Margherita pizza is something like $14. If you could get that down to even $8 for the same quality then that would be a huge win. Even if the robots couldn't make the dough, just getting them to the point where they can make the tomato sauce and put the sauce and cheese on the pizza and manage the cooking would be a substantial improvement.
- ameister14 9y ago
  Having moving trucks and a single centralized kitchen seems like a potentially viable way to do that in NYC, as well. Lower rent because your actual kitchen is in Queens and the pizza bakes as it moves.
- tetraodonpuffer 9y ago
  how many pizza pies do you sell a night? and how much does a pizzaiolo make a night? I don't think the economics are there for automatization given how robotically complicated would be to actually make a thin crust wood fired pizza and how fast and consistently a trained pizzaiolo can do it in comparison.
titanomachy 9y ago
That's also true in the wealthy, cosmopolitan urban centre that I live in, but if you go out to the suburbs you might be surprised at the number of pizza huts.
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thieving_magpie 9y ago
"Around here" being the operative words. For those of us that choose to not live in urban environments, hand-crafted foods are much more scarce. I think there's a pretty large market for these guys to pop up stores in cities that aren't close to large cities. And if they can get their costs down with automation I'm sure they'd find a way to make a profit in urban areas as well. After some time at the brewery, a $3.50 pizza is pretty attractive.
- Mikeb85 9y ago
  Not sure how much food costs are where you live, but a $3.50 pizza isn't possible here. The ingredient cost is too high.
  - thieving_magpie 9y ago
    I just made it up since you mentioned "little caesars", famous for their $5 pizza.
  - adwi 9y ago
    In the NYC area there are a few bars that give you a free small pizza with every $5 pint all day every day. Pretty decent too.
- _kyran 9y ago
  in New Zealand, a pizza from dominoes can be had for 5 NZD which is 3.6 USD.
- rtpg 9y ago
  but isn't the problem the same as with other places? If you don't have enough volume, you can't justify the costs. Robots are pretty expensive, right?
saturdaysaint 9y ago
"Sounds like a really, really over-engineered solution. Especially since, as the article states, people want hand-crafted food nowadays." And in the next sentence, the quoted analyst says that automation can play into this trend by taking over repetitive tasks. In this case, it looks like you're getting more freshly hand-tossed crust and more freshly prepped ingredients than your typical chain. I'm not that enthusiastic about the standard American pizza either, but as a popular way of feeding a family or group, it seems like an interesting target for automation. I agree that this is outrageously over-engineered - I imagine that this is a working prototype and that they hope to make a solution for a fraction of the cost and reproduce it across the country. This strikes me as a gamble, but not entirely crazy.
sebasxnco 9y ago
"Sounds like a really, really over-engineered solution" In my country a pizza made by hand cost US $ 3, an it is so big, delicious, cheap and fast. Maybe big brands like Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc. will win reduce their cost, but as you say: "over-engineered solution".

Alex3917 9y ago

> The pizzerias that are thriving right now are the ones making neopolitan style pizza in wood ovens Right now in NYC the going price for a Neopolitan-style Margherita pizza is something like $14. If you could get that down to even $8 for the same quality then that would be a huge win. Even if the robots couldn't make the dough, just getting them to the point where they can make the tomato sauce and put the sauce and cheese on the pizza and manage the cooking would be a substantial improvement.

ameister14 9y ago
Having moving trucks and a single centralized kitchen seems like a potentially viable way to do that in NYC, as well. Lower rent because your actual kitchen is in Queens and the pizza bakes as it moves.
tetraodonpuffer 9y ago
how many pizza pies do you sell a night? and how much does a pizzaiolo make a night? I don't think the economics are there for automatization given how robotically complicated would be to actually make a thin crust wood fired pizza and how fast and consistently a trained pizzaiolo can do it in comparison.

titanomachy 9y ago

That's also true in the wealthy, cosmopolitan urban centre that I live in, but if you go out to the suburbs you might be surprised at the number of pizza huts.

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thieving_magpie 9y ago

"Around here" being the operative words. For those of us that choose to not live in urban environments, hand-crafted foods are much more scarce. I think there's a pretty large market for these guys to pop up stores in cities that aren't close to large cities. And if they can get their costs down with automation I'm sure they'd find a way to make a profit in urban areas as well. After some time at the brewery, a $3.50 pizza is pretty attractive.

Mikeb85 9y ago
Not sure how much food costs are where you live, but a $3.50 pizza isn't possible here. The ingredient cost is too high.
- thieving_magpie 9y ago
  I just made it up since you mentioned "little caesars", famous for their $5 pizza.
- adwi 9y ago
  In the NYC area there are a few bars that give you a free small pizza with every $5 pint all day every day. Pretty decent too.
_kyran 9y ago
in New Zealand, a pizza from dominoes can be had for 5 NZD which is 3.6 USD.
rtpg 9y ago
but isn't the problem the same as with other places? If you don't have enough volume, you can't justify the costs. Robots are pretty expensive, right?

saturdaysaint 9y ago

"Sounds like a really, really over-engineered solution. Especially since, as the article states, people want hand-crafted food nowadays." And in the next sentence, the quoted analyst says that automation can play into this trend by taking over repetitive tasks. In this case, it looks like you're getting more freshly hand-tossed crust and more freshly prepped ingredients than your typical chain. I'm not that enthusiastic about the standard American pizza either, but as a popular way of feeding a family or group, it seems like an interesting target for automation. I agree that this is outrageously over-engineered - I imagine that this is a working prototype and that they hope to make a solution for a fraction of the cost and reproduce it across the country. This strikes me as a gamble, but not entirely crazy.

sebasxnco 9y ago

"Sounds like a really, really over-engineered solution" In my country a pizza made by hand cost US $ 3, an it is so big, delicious, cheap and fast. Maybe big brands like Domino's, Pizza Hut, etc. will win reduce their cost, but as you say: "over-engineered solution".