When the robots take over we should point our fingers at Lee Kindell and his pizza making robots.

Lee Kindell and his wife, Nancy Gambin, own Moto Pizza. A Seattle-based pizza shop with a 3-month wait.

Lee Kindell started Moto Pizza as a path to retirement. He’d make hand tossed pizzas out of an 18th century dough trough, serve them hot and fresh with quality toppings, and make bank.

Moto Pizza may serve odd pizzas, pizzas with adobo, clam chowdah, or crap toppings, but the real draw is how those pizzas are made.

An arm injury led him to adding a mechanical dough machine. After his regulars couldn’t tell the different between hand kneaded and machine kneaded dough, his passion for bringing on the robot apocalypse conceptualized.

Robotic Pizza

Kindell raised $600k and brought a mess of automation to Moto Pizza. The robots and Lindell’s staff of 62 humans crank out 1,000 to 1,500 pizzas a day to sell in Seattle. Demand has forced him to take online orders only where customers have to reserve a day and time slot for receiving their pizza. Those time slots are scheduled months in advance.

Facebook and Reddit posts for West Seattle neighborhoods were littered with reports of people pizza-jacking Moto Pizzas because they couldn’t get their hands on them. People have begun reselling their Moto Pizza time slots. I swear capitalism and mania don’t mix.

How Does It Work?

The Picnic Pizza Station is made by a company called Picnic Works. The machine takes an assembly line approach to building a pizza pie, but automates it. Dough is spread and rolled, then fed into the machine at the beginning followed by sauces, cheese, and toppings tumbling down from containers.

The pizza is baked under a conveyor and a human being who can fog a mirror slides the pizza out and boxes it.

I have to give Lee credit. Pizza is one of those finicky foods where people can be particular. You know a good pizza when you eat one, a horrible slice, and truly great pizza. Pizza can have a chewy or crisp crust. It can come in a pan or sheet. Baked on a stone or a stray. And pizza can be square, round, or even heart shaped.

Lee Kindell has found a formula for success while making manageably good pizza. Who knows if people are demanding Moto Pizza because it’s made by a robot or truly good. You have to give the man a credit for innovating a time tested formula.

-MJ