Aldi launches ‘exciting’ hot food item in North Sydney supermarket

The German supermarket is known for its no frills style of shopping – but a Sydney store is trialling selling a hot food item for $9.

Now this is a “special buy”.

Sydney shoppers can now get a fresh pizza cooked by a robot while doing their grocery shopping at Aldi.

The pizza vending machine is being launched at the supermarket’s North Sydney Corner Store.

The swanky and completely unique new-style Aldi store opened in July last year with products you won’t find at other Aldi stores.

Now the supermarket has exclusively launched Pizzabot, an invention by Bondi start-up Placer Robotics.

Aldi has teamed with a Bondi start-up to trial a pizza vending machine. Picture: Pizzabot / Aldi

It will only be available at Aldi Corner Store in North Sydney. Picture: Pizzabot / Aldi

The company says it is the first pizza vending machine to be designed and manufactured in Australia and delivers premium restaurant-grade wood-fired pizza, cooked in just two minutes.

“We understand our shoppers are motivated by quality, value and supporting local, and we are extremely excited by our collaboration with Pizzabot, a true Aussie innovation, to deliver great quality pizza and a unique experience, at the lowest price point,” Aldi Corner Store director Huw Longman said.

The pizzas are priced from $8.99, but will only be available for a limited time as part of a trial. And unfortunately for pizza and Aldi lovers across the country, there are no plans to lunch Pizzabot at other stores.

The pizzas are cooked and packed in a couple of minutes. Picture: Pizzabot / Aldi

How the pizza-making robot works

The pizza bases are handmade and partially cooked in Bondi and topped with local ingredients.

They are then chilled inside the robot and cooked when requested by a customer.

The machine can cook about 17 pizzas an hour and has a glass front so shoppers can watch the show.

Pizzabot founder Matt Lipski said the vision was to give time-poor consumers restaurant-grade pizza.

“To ensure we’re bringing restaurant quality gourmet pizzas to the Aldi Corner Store customers, we use the freshest, highest quality ingredients – including buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, gourmet salami and 48-hour rise dough,” he said in a statement.

“Our custom oven, which reaches temperatures as high as a wood fired oven with digital precision, guarantees the perfect crispness, taste and look of each slice, every time.”

According to the company’s website, the goal is to launch 200 machines globally in the second half of 2023.

There is also plans to launch a crypto coin called “Pizzabot coin” this year.