- A new partnership with PopID will let you pay with your face at Piestro’s automated pizzeria locations.
- For operators that choose to deploy their own branded Piestro machines, they will have the option to integrate PopID into their automated pizzerias.
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The pizza industry is edging closer to a sci-fi future with a new partnership between Piestro, a Santa Monica, California startup that uses robotics to automate the pizza-making process, and PopID, a facial recognition payment company.
In an announcement today, Piestro said it will offer consumers a faster, easier and safer way to pay using PopID’s revolutionary technology. As Piestro kicks off a second crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine, the partnership between Piestro and PopID will offer consumers the ability to pay with their face at Piestro’s automated pizzeria locations and on mobile devices.
The partnership comes on the heels of growing demand for contactless solutions amid the pandemic and for low-touch, easily accessible food options.
Piestro’s approach—a standalone, fully integrated cooking system and dispenser—creates an automated pizzeria that combines fresh ingredients and custom recipes to build quality pizzas. Thanks to a transparent window at the front of the Piestro machine, customers can watch the pizza being assembled, complete with moving robotic arms, colorful dispensers that pour sauce and ingredients onto the pie and spinning disks that move the pizza from one stage to the next.
Related: Picnic’s pizza-making robots coming in 2021
PopID’s advanced facial recognition technology complements Piestro’s low-touch automation, speed and access expectations for consumers, according to a press release. Key benefits of the partnership include:
On-site Contactless Ordering and Payment: PopID-compatible Piestro machines will feature full software and hardware integration, allowing customers to select and utilize PopID’s PopPay solution as a payment method on the same screen they viewed Piestro’s menu and placed their order. Customers can still pay via traditional credit/debit cards if they do not have a PopID account.
App Ordering and Payment: Piestro customers will be able to use PopID as a payment method on Piestro’s app for placing pre-orders for pickup.
Customer Confirmation: For pre-orders made through the Piestro app, customers will have the option of verifying their identity with PopID to retrieve their order. The customer’s face can be scanned and authenticated to dispense the pizza.
‘Powered by Piestro’ Integration: For operators that choose to deploy their own branded Piestro machines, they will have the option to integrate PopID into their automated pizzerias.
Related: Why robots could save the pizza restaurant industry
“As we navigate our way out of the pandemic, the demand for contactless ordering and payment options is not going away any time soon,” said John Miller, chairman of Cali Group, which specializes in new technologies for the restaurant and retail industry. “PopID is the go-to universal gateway for contactless payment applications and will enable Piestro to offer an innovative user experience that exceeds customer expectations. We are thrilled to enter into a partnership that will get pizza lovers their favorite creation faster—all they need is their face to pay.”
“Integrating PopID into our system will allow our customers a safe and reliable way to pay for their pizzas while also expediting the overall process from ordering to eating,” said Massimo De Marco, CEO of Piestro. “We want our customers to experience our deliciously crafted pizzas as quickly as possible, without sacrificing the quality of the product or their health and safety. PopID does that, and we are excited to partner with them to give customers the payment experience they deserve.”
The partnership with PopID coincides with Piestro’s second funding campaign raise on crowdfunding platform StartEngine. The platform gives more everyday investors an opportunity to tap into the highly watched field of intelligent automation and capitalize on the $46.3 billion U.S. pizza market.
Piestro is backed by experts in the food automation space. Its lead investor, Wavemaker Partners, is a global venture capital fund with $400M AUM, and its studio, Wavemaker Labs, focuses directly on automation. To learn more and invest in Piestro, visit www.startengine.com/Piestro.
