Pembroke's pizza vending machine the fastest pizza in the west
Travelling west of Ottawa through the valley, you will not get a faster pizza than the one you can find at the Pembroke Esso gas station.
It may seem like an odd place to get a pizza, but it is thanks to the location’s PizzaForno pizza vending machine.
Gas station owner Gao Tang says he purchased the vending machine in November in the middle of the pandemic.
"Less contact with the people, less spread of COVID. So I think that was probably a good idea," Tang says of the new addition to his location, and once it arrived, word in town spread fast.
"Everyone wanted to try it in the beginning. No one had an automatic pizza machine before."
The pizzas are made on location inside the gas station’s kitchen and are then put inside the vending machine. The machine keeps them fresh for three days, after which the machine will no longer dispense them.
A look at the PizzaForno pizza available in the vending machine at the Esso gas station in Pembroke. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)
Station manager Trudy Romain says when it first arrived, her job moved entirely to making pizzas.
"When it first came we were making 60 to 70 pizzas non-stop for quite a while," Romain says. Tang had to hire a chef specifically just to make pizzas at the gas station.
"We would make them and then load them, and then we just couldn’t keep up at the beginning. As fast as we were loading them, we’d come in the next day and it’d be empty."
Demand has since slowed to 20 to 30 pizzas sold per day, but Romain says the fast food option remains popular with the vending machine on Greenwood Road, which leads in and out of Pembroke.
It is also the only 24/7 fast food option east of the city, pushing out a hot pizza in just three minutes.
"I think it’s pretty handy, I think it works here because there’s nothing in this end of town," says Pembroke resident Brett Wells, who stopped to get a cheese pizza for the first time Friday. "We’re always here getting fuel and we see it, so I figured we’d try it."
The vending machine offers a variety of flavours from standard pepperoni and cheese, to barbecue chicken, and vegetarian.
Passing through on their way to Guelph, Ont., tree planters Alex Pogue and Trinity Sawyer grabbed a four-cheese pizza for the drive. Pogue says it passes the taste test.
"I would say for coming out of a machine, I would give it a good seven out of ten. It’s a little floppy but other than that it’s pretty good."
Correction
A previous version of this article said the pizza vending machine could be found on Greenbank Road. It is on Greenwood Road.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Should sex abuse evidence set the Menendez brothers free? A judge will decide
A judge will decide Monday whether new evidence warrants a re-examination of the convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez in the shotgun murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home more than 30 years ago.
French mass rape trial prosecutors demand maximum sentence for Gisele Pelicot's ex-husband
A mammoth rape trial in France moved into a new phase Monday as prosecutors began to lay out the verdicts and punishments they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband.
Elliot Lake, Ont., woman charged with choking neighbour's dog
An intoxicated woman in Elliot Lake has been charged with breaking into her neighbour's apartment and choking their dog.
Horse's head and pregnant cow used in 'barbaric' mafia threat in Sicily
The discovery of a severed horse head, and a cow quartered with its bloodied dead calf on top, have rattled a Sicilian town, with authorities treating the incident as a mafia threat.
Egyptian officials say 17 people are missing after a tourist yacht sank in high waves on Red Sea
At least 17 people are missing after a tourist yacht sank in the Red Sea following warnings about rough seas, Egyptian officials said Monday.
Second Cup takes back Montreal franchise over hateful incident
Second Cup Café has taken back two of its franchise locations in Montreal following allegations of hateful remarks and gestures made by the franchisee in a video that was widely circulated online during a pro-Palestinian protest.
Winnipeg police shoot, kill suspect after officer stabbed in the throat
A Winnipeg Police Service officer is recovering after he was stabbed in the throat Sunday evening.
'A first for everyone': Toronto traffic forces Utah Hockey Club to walk to Leafs game
The Utah Hockey Club got the full Toronto experience Sunday night ahead of their first-ever matchup against the Maple Leafs—bumper-to-bumper traffic that forced the team to walk to the game.
DHL cargo plane crashes and skids into a house in Lithuania, killing Spanish crew member
A DHL cargo plane crashed on approach to an airport in Lithuania's capital and skidded into a house Monday morning, killing a Spanish crew member but not harming anyone on the ground. The cause is under investigation.