Technology
800 Degrees Pizza teams with robotic pizzeria company to bring pizza to the masses
800 Degrees Pizza is teaming up with Piestro, a robot pizzeria, to create a fast, quality pie using 800 Degrees Pizza's recipe. We talked to Piestro CEO Massimo Noja de Marco and Anthony Carron, founder and chef of 800 Degrees Pizza, about the partnership which will bring 3,600 automated pizza vending machines to cities nationwide.
September 7, 2021 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group
800 Degrees Pizza is partnering with Piestro, a robot pizzeria, to bring a line of automated pizza vending machines to more than 3,600 locations over the next five years.
The strategy will expand 800 Degrees Pizza's reach, bringing quality ingredients to the masses. It's a custom approach to automation, equipping each machine with an authentic, custom pizza recipe designed for Piestro's unique cooking technology.
Pizza Marketplace talked to Massimo Noja de Marco, Piestro CEO, and Anthony Carron, founder and chef at 800 Degrees Pizza, about the joint venture and what it means for pizza fans in the U.S.
Q: Why automation? What's the attraction for customers?
Noja de Marco: Automation enables more choice and flexibility. Robots can work 24/7, so this allows customers to access high-quality food options at any time. Businesses and restaurants that deploy Piestro will benefit from added cost efficiency, as Piestro is far less costly than traditional options, while offering their consumers more flexibility.
Carron: Automation is first and foremost about being able to reach more customers faster through the marriage of technology and food quality. Piestro's technology will allow us to get our pizza into new areas more often and faster than we would be able to do with traditional brick and mortar locations. Secondly, it is about giving the customer what they want — which is more convenience to control their dining decisions. With the growing interest in off premise dining experiences, automation allows us to bring the food to where the guest wants it.
Noja de Marco: The best part of Piestro is its ability to make fresh, customizable artisanal pizzas in three minutes or less. Pizza is truly my first love, so, to me, using fresh ingredients is of utmost importance. Unlike other frozen pizza vendors in the market, Piestro's freshly baked pizzas will offer customers a crunchier, softer, flavorful and fully customizable pizza experience they won't forget!
Q: What differentiates 800 Degrees Pizza from other pizzerias?
Carron: I created 800 Degrees Pizza back in 2012 with one single goal in mind: to honor the tradition of classic Neapolitan pizza by only using fresh, high-quality ingredients. Think of dough created from scratch, naturally grown tomatoes and artisan-quality meats and cheeses — all cooked to perfection in a woodfired oven to make the most authentic and irresistible craft pizza on the market.
Today, 800 Degrees Pizza currently has restaurants and development agreements around the word, and it currently offers a wide range of meal options cooked with the freshest ingredients through simple, delicious techniques.
Q: Why partner together? What's the attraction?
Carron: We established our first 800 Degrees Pizza location back in 2012 and have continued expanding both nationally and internationally since then. But with the onset of the pandemic, we saw and experienced significant customer service constraints as the whole restaurant industry struggled to keep up with the exploding demand for takeout and delivery.
So, the real question was: How could we maximize our production and throughput while maintaining high levels of quality, consistency and freshness that have always been at the heart of our brand?
When Massimo reached out to me to discuss his latest venture, his fully automated pizzeria, I immediately realized automation was key to continue growing and expanding our business without the challenges that come with opening and operating a full dine-in restaurant. And what I truly value about Piestro is how it will allow us to preserve our love and passion for food by cooking pizza from scratch without having to freeze it first. It's all about freshness!
Noja de Marco: At Piestro, guaranteeing the freshness and deliciousness of our pizzas is paramount. So, we're looking to partner with operators who are truly dedicated to their craft and committed to delivering customers an unforgettable dining experience — just like my colleague Chef Anthony does at 800 Degrees Pizza every day.
I believe that Piestro's contactless cooking capabilities, fresh taste, and the speed and consistency that our automation and breakthrough technology bring, align perfectly with the values of 800 Degrees so we can provide an exceptional culinary experience to all the true, authentic pizza lovers out there!
Q: When looking for a pizzeria to partner with, what were you looking for?
Noja de Marco: We're looking to partner with local and regional pizza chains who want to expand their footprint to reach more customers or restaurant operators who are looking for cutting-edge technology solutions to maximize production efficiency in their restaurants. But most importantly, I'd say we're looking for partners who are not afraid to experiment and leverage the breakthrough technology that Piestro has to offer to create unique experiences for their customers.
The specifics of the deployment strategy will be determined by 800 Degrees Pizza as the partnership continues to evolve and 800 Degrees continues to grow. For now, both companies will be focused on scaling the technology and designing new recipes to ensure that the resulting pizzas are able to provide customers with a unique dining experience.
Q:While growing the brand, why large cities?
Carron: We initially focused on densely populated cities to get our pizza in front of the most people possible. Now, with the help of Piestro, we'll be able to reach an even wider customer base in smaller cities and towns around the world.
Q: Did the COVID-19 virus factor into your decision to partner with Piestro?
Carron: While the pandemic definitely accelerated our venture into automation, I was instantly hooked when Massimo and I first connected about Piestro's technology. I saw both the immediate and long-term impact automation could have in growing our business, and was extremely excited to begin developing recipes for the machine that used the same imported, fresh and flavorful ingredients that made 800 Degrees Pizza so successful.
Q:What's the outlook for company growth?
Noja de Marco:The pizza market has lots to offer, and there is a ton of room for innovation and growth within the space. Pizza is the #1 most popular food in the U.S. On any given day, about 13% (or one in eight) of Americans eat pizza. This $46 billion U.S. market is projected to grow to $54 billion by 2023, and it's ready to be disrupted with cutting-edge technologies that can help maximize profit margins, increase efficiency, and help restaurants meet growing customer demands.
We see a very positive outlook for Piestro's growth as we continue to collaborate with industry leaders at a local and global level as well. In addition to our partnership with 800 Degrees Pizza, we also recently announced a commercial partnership with Fast Fired by Carbone Restaurant Group, one of Canada's fastest-growing pizza franchises. This industry partnership strategy is allowing us to further develop our technology and scale our business even faster.
From a funding standpoint, Piestro had an oversubscription of investor interest during a successful first campaign raise on the crowdfunding platform, StartEngine. As a result, we opened a second funding campaign that has raised more than $1.5 million in just a few months. We expect this trend to continue as more and more investors and partners join our mission to make a revolutionary pizzeria that prioritizes quality and slashes traditional operational costs.
Carron: Our growth strategy is based on strategic partnerships with experienced suppliers and operators that can help us share and spread our passion for great food in the U.S. and around the world. We've also gotten celebrity interest in the brand as three-time NBA Champions Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem introduced our West Coast-based concept to South Florida.
Our partnership with Piestro reflects our goal to continue expanding our reach to deliver our unique dining experience to more and more pizza lovers. Thanks to Piestro's breakthrough technology and small footprint, we will now be able to bring a completely new version of the 800 Degrees Pizza brand to high-traffic, easy-to-access locations in large cities where opening a formal restaurant location can be incredibly expensive and restricted. In the next five years, we expect to have deployed more than 3,000 units of our "800 Degrees by Piestro" machines across multiple cities around the world.
Q: How will you make sure the product reflects the quality in the brand?
Carron:The quality element was definitely a key to this partnership. Massimo shares the same love of pizza that I do, and knows that using the best ingredients is imperative to delivering the best product to the customer. Even though our pizza will be cooked in a fully automated machine, we made sure that the quality did not suffer and developed a series of recipes that preserve 800 Degrees Pizza's unique flavor profile and can be easily replicated by our "800 Degrees by Piestro" machines.
About Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
