Piestro has partnered with robotics company Kiwibot to offer consumers a touchless, contactless pizza delivery experience.
US start-up Piestro, which has developed an automated pizzeria, has also announced that it will open a second funding campaign on StartEngine, following an oversubscribed raise on the platform.
Founded by executives from a range of technology and hospitality companies, Piestro claims its automated pizzerias can produce pizzas in three minutes.
Customisable recipes can be uploaded to the machines’ cooking systems, and users, who can order either in person or through an app, can personalise their pizza with a variety of toppings.
Suitable for locations like apartment complex lobbies, the automated pizzerias can allow restaurants to bring their products to consumers without added infrastructure, labour and delivery service costs.
Under the new partnership, Piestro machines will come integrated with a dispensing mechanism for Kiwibot, a robotic delivery service.
Orders placed with Piestro via the app will be registered with Kiwibot, and a bot deployed to a Piestro location, where the pizza is timed to dispense upon the bot’s arrival for maximum freshness.
Kiwibot delivers the pizza directly to the consumer, creating a fully contactless experience which limits the potential for customer exposure to harmful pathogens.
“Partnering with Piestro is great synergy for consumers who want to have access to their local pizza favourites with speedy delivery and seamless ease,” said David Rodriguez, head of business at Kiwibot.
“Our relationship with Piestro is just one more way operators can offset the big margin cuts normal delivery services take, that make it so difficult to stay in business.”
Massimo De Marco, CEO of Piestro, added: “This is such an exciting partnership for us. The demand we saw was so high to bring Piestro to market and we knew it was the right time to really double down on our product roadmap to meet the needs of operators and customer alike.
“Integrating Kiwibot into our system and making fresh, deliciously crafted pizzas accessible in an easy, fast and contactless format positions us to bring our Piestro automated pizzeria to market stronger than ever.”
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