University installs pizza vending machine in dorm

The University of North Florida is the latest customer of the Pizza ATM, an automated vending machine. The machine costs around $60,000. From the Florida Times-Union:

Brook Adams, senior executive chef for UNF's Dining Services, said they make the pizza dough and shred the cheese from scratch daily in the campus kitchen.

"It's all fresh toppings. Everything is absolutely fresh. There is no frozen pizza or anything going into the machine, Adams said.

After assembling the uncooked pizzas, they are placed into boxes with a bar code identifying the toppings and loaded into refrigerated storage shelves in the back of the vending machine.

Students use a touch-screen to select the pizza they want, pay for it and the machine then grabs the pizza from the refrigerated storage area and puts it into one of the machine's two infrared ovens, Adams said.

"It cooks in about 3 minutes 45 seconds and dispenses it out to the student," said Adams, noting the pizzas cost about $8.50 to $9 each, depending on the toppings.