Nearly 300 attendees gathered at The Columbia Inn in Montville, New Jersey, on April 20 for the inaugural xPizza Day, a first-of-its-kind event showcasing how robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous delivery are beginning to reshape the pizza industry.
Created by Anthony Pizzi, founder of the NJ Pizza Alliance, the event brought together pizzeria operators, pizza consumers, technology companies and media from across the country for a live look at what’s next for one of America’s most established—and popular—food categories. The event received national coverage by NBC, CBS and Fox News as well as local news outlets.
xPizza Day will be an annual event and a major component in Pizzi’s plan to make New Jersey the pizza technology capital of the world.
“I want people to see that the future of pizza is in New Jersey,” Pizzi said. “It’s not anywhere else. xPizza Day is unlike any event in the world right now. We’re bringing humanoid robots, drones, delivery bots, autonomous vehicles—all these different technologies that nobody’s ever seen before. And we’re not just bringing it to shop owners. We’re bringing it to the consumer. If we can get the consumers to support these shops and allow them to adopt these technologies—because they were able to experience it themselves—more shops here are going to adopt it than anywhere else in the country.”
Under Pizzi’s leadership, the NJ Pizza Alliance is a statewide network connecting pizzerias, brands, influencers and consumers with the goal of supporting independent operators while positioning New Jersey as a leader in pizza culture and innovation.
In the latter respect, xPizza Day attendees experienced a full range of emerging technologies through live demonstrations, product activations and educational programming focused on improving efficiency, consistency and scalability for independent pizzerias.
The event’s pivotal moment was an autonomous drone pizza delivery executed by Dexa, a leader in the fast-growing field. The pizzas were prepared at The Columbia Inn’s Cyber Pizza Truck; the drone then traveled about two miles, delivering three 8” pies to the home of pro boxer Vito Mielnicki Jr. in Towaco, before landing back at The Columbia Inn. The drone made the round trip in about five minutes, Pizzi said, marking what is believed to be the first autonomous drone pizza delivery of its kind in New Jersey and the Northeastern United States.
Joe Houghton, president of Dexa, said the company is currently operating a 90-day pilot program in Green Brook, New Jersey, with third-party delivery company Grubhub and Wonder, the tech-enabled food hall company that acquired Grubhub in early 2025. According to Houghton, Dexa is developing a new drone, expected to launch later this year, capable of delivering a full 16” pizza.
Meanwhile, delivery robotics company Coco also executed the first autonomous droid pizza delivery in Morris County, New Jersey, on xPizzaDay. Coco is currently operating in Jersey City, with ongoing expansion efforts across New Jersey. Melissa Fahs, chief commercial officer of Coco, said the event brought together key elements driving innovation in the region.
“Three things I love came together this week: New Jersey, great pizza, and Coco, thanks to our new partners at the NJ Pizza Alliance,” Fahs said. “At Coco, our focus is giving restaurants more reliable ways to get food out to their guests, especially in busy urban environments where timing matters. We’ll be back next year with new additions to our fleet here in New Jersey.”
The event also highlighted the role of regulation in the adoption of new technologies. While innovation continues to move quickly, regulatory frameworks remain a key factor in determining how fast these systems can be implemented at scale. “The technology is here, the regulations are not,” said Fabio Arbelaez, owner of the Cyber Pizza Truck.
Despite these challenges, the event reflected a growing openness among both operators and consumers, with many attendees engaging directly with the technology for the first time.
xPizza Day also featured a range of technologies currently entering the restaurant space. Autonomous droids delivered food throughout the event, humanoid robots interacted with attendees, and vehicles from Tesla were on-site offering full self-driving demonstrations.
Additionally, xRobotics presented its Pizza Cube system, calibrated to replicate The Columbia Inn’s classic bar pie, which received an 8.7 score from Dave Portnoy. The robotic system produced pizzas in seconds with a level of consistency that drew attention from operators in attendance.
Igor Buchatskiy, head of sales for xRobotics, and Denis Rodionov both pointed to the event as a signal of growing demand for automation in the industry. “We will be back next year in a much bigger way. This event was game-changing for us,” the company said in a joint statement, noting the system’s ability to replicate existing pizza styles with precision.
Additional participating companies included Toast, Pepsi, Palona AI, RoboStore, Coco, 24/7 Restaurant Equipment, Metro Exhibits, Texas Frozen Tech, and Digital Presence. The Cyber Pizza Truck served more than 800 slices of pizza; Polly-O distributed 500 cheese sticks and 500 cannoli; and Patty-O-Matic produced 400 burger sliders on-site. Additional support was provided by Caputo Flour and Bee Dolce.
The event also included a series of fireside discussions featuring industry leaders, focusing on automation, artificial intelligence and operational efficiency for independent pizzerias. The sessions were hosted by Todd DeGroat, founder of Popp’s Trophies and inventor of the Pizza Peel Magnet. As part of the programming, New Haven Pizza Club artist Michael Pollack brought installations from New Haven, Connecticut, including a custom pizza throne and a moon-inspired pizza sculpture. The latter piece commemorates Artemis II, NASA’s recent return to the Moon and the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years.
“The pizza industry is flocking to New Jersey to experience the future,” Pizzi said. “It’s here, and New Jersey is now the home.”
With its inaugural event, xPizza Day positions New Jersey as an emerging hub for innovation in the pizza industry. Plans for 2027 are already underway, with organizers aiming to expand the event’s scale, programming and participation.
Pizzi said he only spent two months planning the first xPizza Day event. “Imagine what I can do with a year,” he said. “This was just a test run, and it was really successful.”
Pizzi also said he doesn’t believe drone delivery will kill delivery driver jobs; instead, it will free them up to focus on big-ticket, big-tip deliveries while drones handle smaller orders. “If someone orders one pie and mozzarella sticks, why should a delivery driver have to go out of their way for, like, a $3 or $5 tip? It’s not worth it to them. Uber and DoorDash drivers look at the value of the order. If it’s only a $20 order, they’re, like, ‘I’m not taking that. I want a good tip.’ We want to make [every order] worth the delivery driver’s time. Let’s get smaller orders off the driver’s plate, let a drone take it and get it to the customer in less than five minutes. That’s my opinion.”
