California's first pizza vending machine breaks ground in Rancho Cordova

Pizza-serving vending machines have made their shopping center debut in Rancho Cordova, California.

The Nimbus Winery installed its first autonomous pizza server in June 2024, courtesy of PizzaForno. The automated pizza chain is a rapidly growing venture that provides consumers with freshly-baked pizzas at the push of a button.

PizzaForno's vending machines contain a stock of frozen pizzas in six flavors: cheese, pepperoni, meat-lovers, breakfast, vegetarian, and barbecue chicken. Once ordered, robotic arms lift the frozen pizza out of the box to send through the machine's conduction oven. After baking, the arms place the pizza back in its box to prepare for vending.

Machines are cleaned, restocked, and refilled every three to four days, said Charlene Pabro-Leconte, a local PizzaForno owner, in an interview with ABC10.

Automatic pizza dispensers are becoming an increasingly popular option for businesses looking to reduce costs, Pabro-Leconte said. Operational efficiency, scalability, availability, and space are also attractive qualities for business owners.

The company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, has seen rapid expansion across North America. While PizzaForno hopes to expand operations in California with plans to establish machines in Sacramento County and Southern California, the company has touched down in multiple U.S. states, including Texas, Utah, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida.