Pizza News
Pizza 'jukebox' with pizza made by robots to debut at Walmart in Frisco
Pizza made by robots: It's the future.
There's a new twist on pizza opening in Frisco: Pizza made by robots. Called the Pizza Jukebox, it's a new concept from Brix Holdings, which owns the Red Mango frozen yogurt chain, and it's opening inside the Walmart at 16066 TX-121.
This concept will feature an automated pizza-making robot, side-by-side with a Red Mango frozen yogurt stand. A release promises that customers can watch the Pizza Jukebox robot create pizza with "spectacle you'll have to see to believe."
The spectacle involves the sight of a robot making your pizza with a high-tech "pizza jukebox" that spins the pizza, assembles the toppings, and pops it in the oven, ba-da-bing ba-da-boom, one to three minutes later, pizza is ready to go.
Robot servers became a bit of a darling in the restaurant industry during the pandemic, inspiring wonder and delight, even if the actual service sometimes paled next to humans. Brix Holdings CEO Sherif Mityas says they're seizing some of that wonder and delight, but with better performance.
"We're seeing so much innovation with robots and Artificial Intelligence," Mityas says. "This is a robot that actually makes pizza with no human intervention."
They partnered with L2F, a California company who helped develop the technology, and have been testing it for the past few months.
"We're just having some fun," he says. "Everyone's used to having pizza delivered. But part of the fun of restaurants is going out. After the pandemic, people want a reason to come back out to restaurants, so we're trying this out with our friends at Walmart."
You can choose from a 16-inch pie or a 7-inch personal pizza. The crust is placed into a machine and spins - "like a record, that’s why it's called a jukebox," Mityas says. "It then puts whatever topping you've ordered, it slices the pepperoni, it's not pre-sliced."
The robot places the pizza in the oven, where it bakes almost instantly: 3-1/2 minutes for the 16-inch, and 1-1/2 mins for the 7-inch. "You can see your pizza made and listen to your song played on the jukebox while you wait," Mityas says.
Finally, a human steps in to place the pizza into a box, and ring up your order, and then you can get your Red Mango for dessert.
They're aiming to open in mid-June, when they'll share a full menu, and plan to follow with more locations in other Walmart stores.
“We’re so excited to launch such an innovative concept,” Mityas says. “You can’t just get this experience delivered, you must come to see and taste it to believe it. I think that was part of our motivation, to get people to come out to restaurants again."
