- PizzaForno’s automated pizza-making oven will serve up hot, fresh artisan pizzas for $9 to $13.
- The premade pizzas are stored in the machine’s refrigerated section and moved to a patented oven, which bakes the pies in under three minutes.
Related: Automated pizza chain set to expand across Canada in 2020
An orthopedic surgeon in Jackson, Michigan, is prepped and ready for a different type of operation: a pizza vending machine that will serve up hot, fresh pies for $9 to $13.
As Fox47 News reports, Dr. Tim Epko teamed up with Adam Page, who works in the medical device field, to set up the country’s first PizzaForno location, featuring a pizza vending machine from the chain headquartered in Canada. The machine is located on South Cooper Street in Jackson.
“We’re bringing something new and innovative, the first in the United States, to Jackson, Michigan,” Epko, chief operating officer of Jackson PizzaForno, told Fox47. “You know, I don’t think a lot of people think of Jackson, Michigan, when they think of innovation, when they think of the latest and greatest. Now maybe that focus will change a bit.”
Epko discovered the PizzaForno automated pizza system during a family trip to Toronto.
“Me and my family bought the whole pizza out of the machine,” Ekpo said in the Fox47 interview. “It was a great taste. It had a great flavor. With that in mind, we thought it would be a great idea stateside. So we decided to bring it over.”
PizzaForno received the Excellence in Innovation Award by Restaurants Canada. The units boast small footprints, low waste and patented robotic food-handling technology, the company says.
In 2020, PizzaForno announced it was looking to expand into the United States and Mexico “in coming years.”
Available at the tap of a digital screen, six different types of handmade pizza can be ordered through the units. The premade pizzas are stored in the machine’s refrigerated section and moved to a patented oven, which bakes the pies in under three minutes. One PizzaForno oven holds 70 12-inch pizzas, the company said.
Pizza varieties include Pepperoni, BBQ Chicken, Honey Chevre, Hawaiian, Cheeseburger, Four-Cheese Blend and Vegetarian.
“My personal favorite is honey and goat cheese,” Epko said. “The flavors together are so good.”
Epko and Page plan to open additional PizzaForno locations around Michigan, then expand regionally and, eventually, across the U.S.
“We are both pretty driven people,” Page told Fox47 News. “We are passionate about being entrepreneurs. We feel like we have an eye for certain special opportunities, Pizzaforno being one of them.”
