Pazzi Robotics, a French startup that developed robots to make pizzas from scratch in five minutes, closed its doors in 2022 after nine years despite securing patents, working with a world-champion chef, and receiving global interest. CEO Philippe Goldman cited challenges like the immature robotics ecosystem in France, the difficulty of combining tech and restaurant cultures, and issues with executive team building. The article questions if the company was ahead of its time and if pizza robots deserve another chance, especially given current labor shortages and rising costs in the food service industry.
Should pizza-making robots get a second chance?
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TL;DR: Key points with love ❤️Pazzi Robotics, a French startup that developed robots to make pizzas from scratch in five minutes, closed its doors in 2022 after nine years despite securing patents, working with a world-champion chef, and receiving global interest. CEO Philippe Goldman cited challenges like the immature robotics ecosystem in France, the difficulty of combining tech and restaurant cultures, and issues with executive team building. The article questions if the company was ahead of its time and if pizza robots deserve another chance, especially given current labor shortages and rising costs in the food service industry.
Trending- 1 Pazzi Robotics operates for nine years, developing pizza-making robots.
- 2 2022: Pazzi Robotics closes its doors after failing to find a buyer.
- 3 Philippe Goldman shares reflections on LinkedIn about the company's challenges.
- 4 Ongoing: Discussion about the future of pizza-making robots and Pazzi's legacy.
- Pazzi Robotics' closure, leading to a loss of innovation in automated food service
- Ongoing debate about the readiness of the market and culture for robot-made food
- Potential for future attempts at pizza automation, possibly in different markets
- Lessons learned for hardware startups regarding funding, ecosystem support, and management.
What: Pazzi Robotics, a French startup that created pizza-making robots, failed and closed in 2022 despite technological achievements and interest. The article discusses the reasons for its failure, including an immature robotics ecosystem in France, the dual challenges of running a tech company and a restaurant, and internal management issues. It also explores whether such technology deserves a second chance given the current demand for automation in food service.
When: 2022 (Pazzi closed); Nine years (duration of Pazzi's innovation); Currently (discussion about future of pizza robots).
Where: Paris, France; Online (LinkedIn, Cyberguy.com/Contact).
Why: Pazzi Robotics failed due to an immature robotics ecosystem in France, limited public/institutional funding for hardware projects in France, the cultural wariness of robotics in the French food industry, and internal management issues (not using the board enough, slow executive team building). The CEO also noted the difficulty of merging tech and restaurant business models.
How: Pazzi's robots could knead dough, spread sauce, add toppings, bake, slice, and box a pizza autonomously in under five minutes, operating 24/7. They used robotics, AI, and machine vision to optimize workflow. Despite this, the company couldn't find a buyer and shut down.