Late-night pizza is as much a staple of college life as ramen, dorms and exams. But fresh pizza in the middle of the night isn’t always easy to find.
This past week, Xavier University in Cincinnati eased students’ quest for round-the-clock munchies by installing Pizza ATM, America’s first pizza vending machine, signaling a large cheer around the world.
Open 24/7, Pizza ATM dispenses fresh pizza to hungry students within three minutes of ordering. The 12-inch pies cost $9 to $10, depending on toppings. The vending machine holds 70 pizzas at a time.
University officials say the quality of the machine-made pizzas will not differ from dining hall pizzas — they are still hand-prepped by staff in the Xavier dining hall, which has won two national awards for its food in the past three years. But instead of the pizza being cooked by staff, it’s heated up in the machine at 475 degrees.
The Pizza ATM has been a French staple for 14 years, and now that it has finally reached stateside, we can all let out a huge sigh of relief.