High street quick service restaurant chain Pizza Hut is testing a new automated ordering system where customers will have no interaction with employees, however it's relying on a retro service to do so - the automat.
If you're wondering what this is exactly, cast back to old self service vending machines selling foods and drink. That's your automat right there. Pizza Hut's take on the technology is clearly much more advanced than the old school machines of the early 1900's, but both carry the same principle - there's no need for employee intervention.
The new systems have been debuted in Hollywood, California, where guests can also pre-order using the Pizza Hut website or app as well as over the phone before retrieving their food in the cubby holes of the machine. The system follows the Amazon Lockers process, and uses an already well-known technology created by Eatsa, a chain of grain bowl automats that launched in New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. in 2017.
The QSR chain has plans to roll out the new service in several more locations on the West Coast of America in 2020 if the current pilot proves successful.
Image - Pizza Hut