Piestro and Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop to test automated pizzeria

El Segundo, Calif. – Piestro will begin a piloted test of its Piestro Pod robotic pizzeria at Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop’s Las Vegas location.

Capriotti’s also intends to purchase up to 100 Piestro Pods within five years of the units being made available to the restaurant following the pilot.

As customer demand for convenience and speed remain at an all-time high in the restaurant industry, brands must rapidly evolve to keep up with the ever-changing food landscape. Sales at Capriotti’s lean heavily to lunchtime hours and the shop is taking steps to expand beyond that.

“Piestro will be a tremendous addition to our shops and give our customers a brand-new menu category for evening and late-night eats that we didn’t have before,” said Ashley Morris, chief executive officer of Capriotti’s. “During these slower blocks of the day, one pod could increase our revenue without needing to find additional team members. We’re optimistic that our initial test will be a success, and foresee Piestro becoming an integral part of our future store layouts.”

Through the integration of Piestro, Capriotti’s will be able to serve customers without the retail footprint and labour costs typically associated with producing pizza. This means Capriotti’s increases its ROI and customers pay lower prices than they would at a conventional pizzeria, the release said.

“We are extremely excited to partner with a rapidly growing brand like Capriotti’s and cannot wait to serve our pizza to their loyal customers,” said Massimo Noja de Marco, CEO of Piestro.

Piestro continues to see traction with investors in its crowdfunding campaign, which is currently underway on WAX.

Piestro is an automated pizzeria – a standalone, fully integrated cooking system and dispenser – that makes pizzas within just a few minutes. Combining robotics, precision control/actuation and culinary excellence, Piestro creates pizzas full of authentic flavor closer to customers. The company is backed by lead investor, Wavemaker Partners and counts among its executives and founders Miso Robotics, Kitchen United, SBE Entertainment Group, Graze Autonomous Mowers and Wolfgang Puck.

Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, founded in 1976, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop is U.S. franchised restaurant chain that specializes in cold, grilled and vegetarian subs, cheese steaks and salads at more than 170 locations.