Picnic Works has added Domino’s Pizza Enterprises LTD to its growing customer base. The Seattle-based company announced earlier this week that a Domino’s store in Berlin is trialing the company’s pizza making machine.
The goal of the pilot in Berlin is to understand how automated pizza assembly can assist Domino’s employees in producing fresh, consistent pizza as efficiently as possible, the companies said. This program is part of an initiative between Picnic and Domino’s that started in 2021 that has included research, product testing and multi-national planning.
After workers load the dough, the Picnic station takes care of applying the sauce, cheese, freshly cut meat, and additional toppings. The finished pizzas are then loaded into the store’s ovens for cooking.
Each hour, the Picnic station can assemble up to 100 pizzas with one operator. The customer roster for the Picnic Pizza Station spans from independent pizzerias and regional chains to managed foodservice providers Compass and Sodexo Live!, universities including Texas A&M University and The Ohio State University and entertainment venues like SeaWorld.
Picnic Works offers the station to restaurants through a robotics as a service model (RaaS). Operators can pay a monthly fee of $4500 for a three-year term. Picnic Works said what sets its system apart from other pizza making robots is that its system was designed to let restaurants customize their ingredients choices so that their pizzas come out in their signature style.
A partnership that has been baking
The in-store demonstration phase began by installing a Picnic Pizza Station in the busy Domino’s Tiergarten store, training employees and maximizing system operations. Through daily check-ins and real-time online performance monitoring, both companies will assess the impact of assistive technology and the results of the trial.
“Our mission is to deliver customers hot, fresh meals, safely, at an affordable price, and we want to explore how we can empower team members by giving them the best tools and resources to make their jobs more efficient and rewarding,” stated Don Meij, group CEO & managing director of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd.
To date, global Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd leaders from Europe, Asia and Australia have visited Picnic headquarters in Seattle numerous times to plan and test ingredients from Domino’s worldwide kitchens. A global team of innovation experts, country managers, and executives have worked together to choose the Berlin demonstration location, according to the companies.
“As a global leader in pizza with more than 3,400 stores in 10 markets, and the recent announcement it intends to acquire three more markets, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd has long been a pioneer in restaurant innovation,” said Clayton Wood, CEO of Picnic. “After many months of laying the groundwork for a robust and fruitful partnership, we’re thrilled to continue applying our award-winning food automation experience to help Domino’s further explore the benefits of automation.”
MOTO brings in pizza station
Picnic Station also recently announced that it was partnering with pizza restaurant MOTO. The company said it makes pan style pizza that combine art and science to bring unconventional pizza concepts to foodies in Seattle.
As demand continues to rise, the pizzeria plans to open three additional locations over the next six months. MOTO will place the Picnic Pizza Station it nicknamed Otis in the new downtown location to ease and enhance production.
“MOTO was founded on the notion that our food should be nutritious and sourced near us to deliver the highest quality meal,” said Lee Kindell, Founder of MOTO. “With more and more people desperate to get their hands on creative concepts like our MR PIG and KISSD pizzas, we’re looking forward to Picnic helping us produce a higher volume of the peculiar pizza Seattle desires, without any sacrifice to taste.”
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