Skip to content
reydetallarines

reydetallarines

Technology and Age

Primary Menu
  • Computer & Technology
  • Digital Marketing
  • Packaging
  • Business
  • Fashion
  • Society
  • About Us
    • Advertise Here
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Sitemap
  • Home
  • Piestro, the Robotics Startup Serving Pizza
  • Food

Piestro, the Robotics Startup Serving Pizza

By Donna A. Dennis 3 years ago

Sign up for dot.LA’s daily newsletter for the latest news on Southern California’s tech, startup and venture capital scene.

It’s 2 a.m. during a night out; you’re hungry, but all kitchens are closed and the food options are limited.

Piestro believes it has a solution. The El Segundo-based startup is developing a fully robotic vending machine for pizzas.


“You generally don’t get really good or fresh foods [late at night],” Piestro founder and CEO Massimo De Marco said. “But being able to bring in something nice, fresh, hot and I want to say healthy—that was really the main factor we’re wanting to bring to the masses 24/7.”

Before founding Piestro in 2020, Italy native De Marco helped launch Pasadena-based food delivery platform Kitchen United and had hospitality industry stints working for restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and the Hillcrest Country Club in Beverly Hills. To make his dream of an automated pizza machine a reality, De Marco has the help of a team of engineers with experience from the likes of Walt Disney Imagineering, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Boston Dynamics and Virgin Hyperloop.

(Though he works remotely, De Marco said he spends at least one day a week in Piestro’s El Segundo facility overseeing the team and taste-testing the pizza. When asked about his daily slice count, he admitted: “I don’t count because I’m embarrassed!”)

Standing six feet tall and nine feet wide, Piestro’s machine is built with a glass window allowing customers to watch the process unfold inside. It’s similar to chains like Blaze Pizza or Pieology, where the pizza is made by workers in an assembly line—except Piestro’s machine requires no workers to produce a pie in a matter of minutes.

“We wanted to make that experience more interactive and show you that this is fresh stuff,” said Piestro engineer Darian Ahler—who also runs his own food automation startup, Bobacino. “You’re not getting some frozen pizza sitting there; you’re able to see your pizza constructed right in front of you, and that’s super exciting and gets people more engaged with the brand.”

Piestro customers are updated on the status of their pizza via a screen.

Piestro customers are updated on the status of their pizza via a screen.Photo by Decerry Donato

Piestro lets customers order through a touchscreen that lets them choose the toppings for their pizza. (The machine can hold six to eight different toppings at a time.) Once they pay, the customer’s name pops up on a screen indicating when the pie will be ready. The entire process usually takes anywhere from five to eight minutes, though Piestro wants to bring that down to four minutes.

De Marco said the company has already received more than 4,000 pre-orders for its automated pizza machine, with woodfired pizza chain 800 Degrees among its clientele. (De Marco declined to disclose the price Piestro is charging per machine.) Piestro believes its product is ideal for hospitals, airports, schools and apartment complexes that could use access to prepared food at all hours of the day.

The startup isn’t the only automated pizza game in town; there’s also Stellar Pizza, a Hawthorne-based robotic food truck founded by former SpaceX engineers. While Stellar’s model offers mobility, Piestro’s “hub-and-spoke model” has its own advantages, Ahler said.

After a pizza is ready to be picked up, the Piestro machine stores it in a compartment where it is kept warm.

After a pizza is ready to be picked up, the Piestro machine stores it in a compartment where it is kept warm. Photo by Decerry Donato

Though Santa Monica-based food-tech incubator Wavemaker Labs is Piestro’s lead investor, the company proudly boasts of the thousands of investors it has amassed through two separate equity crowdfunding campaigns. Piestro has raised more than $6 million in funding with the help of those campaigns, and is currently seeking to raise another $20 million to help scale its business.

De Marco noted that the startup’s crowdfunding investors include former food industry colleagues of his, from waiters to bartenders, who “totally understand this industry” and the value of the automation Piestro is looking to achieve.

“A busboy that worked with me 15 years ago told me he invested $1,000,” according to De Marco. “They want to get involved and feel like they’re part of this new robotic revolution.”

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Tags: "Food Gift Baskets, Food Games, Food Grade Mineral Oil, Food Hall, Food Handlers, Food Handlers Card, Food Handlers Permit, Food High In Fiber, Food High In Iron, Food High In Potassium, Food High In Protein, Food Ideas, Food In Spanish, Food Inc, Food Insecurity, Food Insecurity Definition, Food Intolerance, Food Intolerance Test, Food Italy Is Famous For, Food Jobs, Food Jokes, Food Journal, Food Journal App, Food Journal Template", Food Justice, G Food Items, G Food Mart, G Food Mart Deli, G Food Names, G Food Near Me, G Food Store, G Food Truck, G Foods, H Food Express, H Food Logo, H Food Market, H Food Mart, H Food Mart Upland Ca, H Food Share Price, H Foods, H Foods Words, I Food Deli, I Food Items, I Food Near Me, I Food Real, I Food Real White Chicken Chili, I Foods, I Foods Names, I Foods Words

Continue Reading

Previous 101 Ideas for Things to Talk About – Smart Passive Income
Next Communities hit hardest by the pandemic, already struggling, could face a dropout cliff
May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Nov    

Archives

  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • March 2020
  • November 2018
  • January 2017

Categories

  • Business
  • Computer & Technology
  • Dental Clinic
  • Digital Marketing
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Health
  • News
  • Packaging
  • SEO
  • Society
  • Sports

Recent Posts

  • A Practical Guide for Creating Graphic Design Content for Marketing Agencies
  • Ruby Jewelry in Contemporary Art: A Modern Perspective
  • Essential Services That Keep Your Home in Top Shape
  • Best Psychic Readings in Woodbridge with Pandith Ramanath
  • ‘Old-fashioned’ traditions take center stage at Agricultural Fair

BL

BR

walnutagent
nutmegagent

SeedBL

Seedbacklink

bp

backlinkplacement.com

Copyright © All rights reserved. | Magazine 7 by AF themes.

WhatsApp us