Wait. What? Is that a….robot? If you are anywhere near John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio, stop by the Donatos Pizza location in Concourse B. You don’t have to grab a slice of pizza, but you might want to stay for a slice of the future. It was only a matter of time before robots moved from building cars to building calzones.
Listen, I am about as out of puns as you are, but this is real life folks. About the size of a shipping container, the compact location powered by Donatos’ sister company, Agápe Automation and Appetronix robotics 24/7, features mechanical arms delicately sprinkling cheese with the precision of a NASA engineer in just six minutes.
To be clear, a human still has to restock ingredients and clean up, but the heavy lifting— the dough, sauce, toppings, baking—is all robot-driven. And unlike that teenage employee who never seems to be on time, your pizza robot isn’t going to “accidentally” short you on pepperoni.
Sure, it all sounds so funny, but in an industry craving workers, the strategy has real implications. Being able to eliminate waste and standardize production is nothing to laugh about (or fear). Automation can turn a chaotic kitchen into a streamlined operation, one precisely measured topping at a time.
And while pizza is a great backdrop, it’s not all about pizza or fast food. Donatos Pizza’s robot kitchen is a glimpse of how automation might quietly transform workflows across industries. Imagine robotic systems handling repetitive, time-intensive tasks in construction, retail or logistics, freeing up teams to focus on what humans do best—creativity, problem-solving, building relationships. The robots are not taking over; they’re taking the drudgery off our plates.
In a time when technology is putting the fear of the Terminator with a chef’s hat in us, the Donatos’ experiment is a reminder that the future of business might just look smarter, faster, less wasteful and, yes, possibly with just the right amount of pepperoni placement.
