with supply and demand and all... IM DEMANDING CANNED BREAD!! where's the supply ๐ฅบ?
It replaces workers with robots so it would probably save money too.
this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
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Think about it realistically. Considering just food machines, what foods popular with Americans can realistically be sold out of a vending machine?
Popcorn is a clear winner. It can be made in advance, stored for a while, and then easily dispensed. Its profit margin is high. You can charge two dollars for a bag of popcorn that only cost you twenty cents in ingredients.
Packaged food like potato crisps is also a good idea for the same reason. You don't even need to keep the vending machine heated. Similarly, cold drinks and ice cream can also be easily dispensed out of a cooled vending machine, although I don't consider those different from "packaged food".
But what other American classics are there to consider? Hamburgers are out immediately. They're too complex to prepare fresh and most people wouldn't buy a reheated frozen burger.
Hot dogs might be viable, but a machine that sells hot dogs can only see hot dogs due to the mechanical complexity. I think many people would also question the freshness of a vending machine hot dog unless you cooked it right in front of them and let them see it via a glass window. Additionally, a hot dog has a much lower profit margin. If you charge four dollars for a hot dog, it might cost nearly a dollar in ingredients along with the mechanical complexity of the machine. Most people would expect the machine to also dispense condiments like ketchup, mustard, and relish.
Pizza is also complex and would take several minutes to bake from fresh or reheat from frozen. I don't think people would stand around for several minutes waiting for a machine to heat up pizza. Unless you can get the cooking time under sixty seconds, forget it. Pizza also traditionally baked at 700 degrees Fahrenheit, or 370 degrees Celsius. It's not an easy to safely install a component that gets that hot in a machine. Pizza that is pre-cooked and kept warm tends to not taste very good.
Fried chicken tenders will lose their crispness over time, even when kept warm. There is no temperature you can keep fried chicken at where it will remain crisp for hours but also not overcook. Hot oil in a machine is a recipe for disaster. French fries are a possible inclusion (the machine in the post sells French fries), but Americans don't really eat French fries on their own; they are usually served as a side dish along with something else.
Ideally, a machine should be loaded with frozen or pre-cooked food, which it merely keeps warm and dispenses to a buyer when purchased.
Think about Japanese food. Curry, in particular, can be served just barely hot and still delicious. Rice balls can be served refrigerated, as can cold Lawson sandwiches. Instant ramen is also popular, but that's just packaged food that requires a hot water spigot. I argue that Japanese food in general is just more suitable to be served out of a vending machine.
When I was stationed at Camp Pendleton around 2003-ish, one of the barracks I was at had a pizza vending machine. It made cheese pizzas (maybe pepperoni too, but I am not sure) that were a little smaller than a frisbee and cost around $5 (at a time when the priciest McDonald's value meal was almost $5). I never had any myself, but it did take a couple minutes to make and (if I remember correctly) the crust was mostly pre-made. Being able to watch the process (a crust drops onto the conveyor, a robot puts the sauce on, another robot puts the cheese on, another robot puts the toppings on (if any), the pizza is conveyored through the oven) would help occupy the customer's time. If the crust is pre-made, you're really just broiling the cheese and toppings to get them melty and hot.
I don't think the pizza was too tasty or popular, but it was a convenient option if you were drunk.
It's a lot more complex than an ordinary vending machine though. That increases costs. A curry machine is nothing more than a normal vending machine with a heater. A ramen machine is nothing more than a normal vending machine with a tap for hot water. Adjusted for inflation, the pizza machine would cost $8 for a small pizza. You can buy one from Little Caesar's for the same price and it's bigger and probably tastes better as well, since, as cheap at it is, the crust is at least fresh.
We have fish bait vending machines with worms in them