Type of fast food restaurant
An
automat
is a type of
fast-food restaurant
where food and drink are served through a
vending machine
, typically without
waitstaff
. The world's first automat,
Quisisana
, opened in
Berlin
,
Germany
in 1895.
[3]
[4]
By country
[
edit
]
Germany
[
edit
]
The first documented automat was
Quisisana
, which opened in 1895 in
Berlin
, Germany.
[5]
In 1904, a similar restaurant opened in
Breslau
.
[6]
Japan
[
edit
]
In Japan, in addition to
vending machines
that sell prepared food, many restaurants also use
food ticket machines
(
Japanese
:
食券機
,
romanized
:
shokkenki
). This process involves purchasing a meal ticket from a
vending machine
, which is then presented to a server who prepares and serves the meal.
Kaitenzushi
restaurants, which
serve sushi on conveyor belts
, are also common in Japan.
[7]
Netherlands
[
edit
]
Automats (
Dutch
:
automatiek
) provide a variety of typical
Dutch fried fast food
, such as
frikandellen
and
croquettes
, as well as
hamburgers
and sandwiches from vending machines which are back-loaded from a kitchen.
FEBO
is the best-known chain of Dutch automats, with some outlets
open 24 hours
a day.
[8]
United States
[
edit
]
The first automat in the United States was opened by food services company
Horn & Hardart
on June 12, 1902, at 818 Chestnut St.
[2]
in
Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
.
[9]
Inspired by Max Sielaff's automat restaurants in
Berlin
, they were among the first 47 restaurants (and the first outside of Europe) to receive patented vending machines from Sielaff's Berlin factory.
[2]
The automat spread to
New York City
[2]
in 1912,
[10]
and gradually became part of
popular culture
in northern
industrial cities
.
Originally, the machines in U.S. automats only accepted
nickels
.
[11]
A cashier sat in a change booth in the center of the restaurant, behind a wide marble counter with five to eight rounded depressions. The diner would insert the required number of coins in a machine and then lift a window, hinged at the top, and remove the meal, which was usually wrapped in waxed paper. The kitchen was located behind the machines and used to replenish them from the rear.
[12]
Automats were popular with a wide variety of celebrity patrons, including
Walter Winchell
and
Irving Berlin
. The New York automats were also popular with
unemployed
songwriters
and
actors
. Playwright
Neil Simon
called automats "the
Maxim's
of the disenfranchised" in 1987.
[13]
The automat was threatened by the arrival of
fast food
restaurants, which served food over the counter with more payment flexibility than traditional automats. By the 1970s, the automats' remaining appeal in their core urban markets was chiefly
nostalgic
. Another contributing factor to their demise was
inflation
, which caused an increase in
food prices
and made the use of coins inconvenient in a time before bill acceptors were common on vending equipment.
[
citation needed
]
At one time, there were 40
Horn & Hardart
automats in New York City. The last one closed in 1991, when the company had converted most of its New York City locations into
Burger King
restaurants. At the time, customers had been noticing a decrease in the quality of the food.
[13]
[14]
2000s US revivals
[
edit
]
In an attempt to revive automats, a company called Bamn! opened a Dutch-style automat store in the
East Village
in New York City in 2006,
[15]
only to close three years later.
[16]
In 2015, another attempt to open an automat was made by a
San Francisco
company called Eatsa, which opened six automated restaurants in
California
,
New York
, and the
District of Columbia
, but they all closed by 2019. The company soon rebranded itself as
Brightloom
, and continue to sell automation technology to restaurants.
The
COVID-19 pandemic
inspired a new wave of automat revival attempts, aimed to adapt to the social distancing guidelines and the desire for
contactless dining
. Joe Scutellaro and Bob Baydale opened Automat Kitchen, which specialized in fresh food, in
Jersey City
's
Newport Centre
in early 2021;
[17]
[18]
however, it closed after one year of operation because of low foot traffic due to the pandemic.
[19]
Another automat chain, the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, opened in the East Village in 2021;
[20]
they opened a chain in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, in December 2023.
[21]
-
An automat in
Manhattan
, New York City in 1936.
-
An automat in Manhattan's
East Village
, c. 2007.
[11]
-
An automat at 1165 Sixth Avenue, New York City, in the 1930s.
-
A Horn & Hardart postcard explaining how food was served in an automat, c. 1930s.
-
A Bamn! automat, 2006
Rail transport
[
edit
]
A form of the automat was used on some
passenger trains
. The
Great Western Railway
in the United Kingdom announced plans in December 1945 to introduce an automat on
buffet cars
.
[22]
Plans were delayed by impending
nationalisation
, but an automat was finally introduced on the
Cambrian Coast Express
in 1962.
[23]
In the United States, the
Pennsylvania Railroad
introduced an automat between
Pennsylvania Station, New York City
, and
Union Station, Washington, DC
, in 1954.
[24]
Southern Pacific Railroad
introduced automat
buffet cars
on the
Coast Daylight
and
Sunset Limited
in 1962.
Amtrak
converted four buffet cars to automats in 1985 for use on the
Auto Train
.
In Switzerland, the
Bodensee?Toggenburg Bahn
introduced automat buffet cars in 1987.
[25]
With the advent of air travel and other forms of transportation, automats on trains became less popular and were eventually phased out. The last automat in use on a train in the United States was on the short-lived
Lake Country Limited
in 2001.
See also
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Diehl, Lorraine B.; Hardart, Marianne (November 19, 2002).
The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece
. New York:
Clarkson_Potter
.
ISBN
978-0-609-61074-9
.
OCLC
1298810185
.
[26]
[27]
[28]
- Automatic restaurants
,
Der Spiegel
- Meet Me at the Automat
By Carolyn Hughes Crowley,
Smithsonian
- Before Horn & Hardart: European automats
- The Automat, an east coast oasis
- "The Last Automat,"
by
James T. Farrell
(
New York
(magazine)
, May 14, 1979)
- Horst Prillinger
Automaten restaurant Quisisana, Mariahilfer Straße 34 im 7, Vienna, Austria, 1972
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Bernardo Friese, grandson of Max Sielaff
- ^
a
b
c
d
Automat-Restaurants ?
AUTOMAT
GmbH, 23 Spenerstrasse, Berlin, N.W. :: Trade Catalogs and Pamphlets
-
OCLC
- ^
"The Return of the Automat"
.
Food & Wine
. Retrieved
2024-01-29
.
- ^
Williams, Addison (2020-07-23).
"Automat History | What is an Automat Restaurant?"
.
History Associates Incorporated
. Retrieved
2024-01-29
.
- ^
Smith, A.F.; Oliver, G. (2015).
Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City
. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 24.
ISBN
978-0-19-939702-0
. Retrieved
June 15,
2017
.
- ^
"Postkarte Carte Postale 33547134 Breslau Niederschlesien Restaurant Automat Breslau Niederschlesien: Manuscript / Paper Collectible | Versandhandel Boeger"
.
- ^
Feng Hsin-I, Cindy (2011).
"The Tale of Sushi: History and Regulations"
.
Institute of Food Technologists
.
11
: 206?207 – via Wiley Online Library.
- ^
Brenner, Elysia (2014-02-05).
"Power-ranking the FEBO automat's wall of food"
.
Thrillist
. Retrieved
2024-01-31
.
- ^
"
Horn & Hardart Automat, 968 6th Ave. between 35th & 36th Sts. (1986)
", 36th Street,
New York City Signs -- 14th to 42nd Street
.
- ^
"Automats become a thing of the past in New York"
.
Free Lance-Star
. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). Associated Press. December 31, 1977. p. 12.
- ^
a
b
Lui, Claire (2006).
"Bamn! The Automat Is Back ? Restaurant ? Food & Drink"
. American Heritage Magazine. Archived from
the original
on 2007-10-20
. Retrieved
2015-03-15
.
- ^
https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2192.pdf
- ^
a
b
Barron, James (April 11, 1991).
"Last Automat Closes, Its Era Long Gone"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
2009-07-16
.
- ^
"New York's Last Automat Closes"
.
St. Petersburg Times
. Associated Press. April 11, 1991
. Retrieved
2009-07-16
.
- ^
Matthews, Karen (August 28, 2006).
"Updated Automat to open in New York City"
.
boston.com
. Associated Press
. Retrieved
2006-08-28
.
- ^
Amanda Kludt (March 9, 2009).
"The Shutter: Felled Bamn! to Become Baoguette?"
.
Eater NY
.
- ^
Charlesworth, Michelle (January 27, 2021).
"Blast from the past: Automat returns with a modern twist"
. ABC 7 Eyewitness News
. Retrieved
2021-02-06
.
- ^
Hamstra, Mark (February 3, 2021).
"Automat Kitchen puts modern spin on classic no-contact format"
.
Restaurant Hospitality
.
Archived
from the original on 2021-02-03
. Retrieved
2021-02-06
.
- ^
"Automat Kitchen at Newport Mall is a goner"
. 4 June 2022.
- ^
Warerkar, Tanay (January 21, 2021).
"A First Look at Brooklyn Dumpling Shop's Automat"
.
Eater New York
.
Archived
from the original on 2021-01-20
. Retrieved
2021-02-06
.
- ^
Sheehan, Jason (2023-12-12).
"South Street is Getting a New Dumpling Automat"
.
Philadelphia Magazine
. Retrieved
2024-02-01
.
- ^
"Automat Buffet Cars For British Railways". Reuters. 26 December 1945.
- ^
"Railway Gazette".
The Railway Gazette
.
119
: 709. 1963.
- ^
"Automatic Buffet-Bar Car Introduced By Pennsy".
Locomotive Engineers Journal
.
88
. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers: 236. 1954.
- ^
Allen, Geoffrey Freeman, ed. (1988).
Jane's World Railways
. Jane's Yearbooks. p. 700.
ISBN
0-7106-0871-3
.
- ^
Diehl, Lorraine B.; Hardart, Marianne.
"The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece"
.
Catalog
.
Library of Congress
. Retrieved
4 June
2022
.
Sample text for Library of Congress control number 2001057805
- ^
Trufelman, Avery
(4 June 2019).
"The Automat"
.
99% Invisible
. Retrieved
4 June
2022
.
- ^
"Nonfiction Book Review: The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece by Marianne Hardart, Lorraine B. Diehl"
.
Publishers Weekly
. 1 November 2002
. Retrieved
4 June
2022
.
- ^
"Archivmeldung: Wien Museum Karlsplatz zeigt "Um die Wurst"
"
.
Presseservice der Stadt Wien
(in German). 1 June 2005
. Retrieved
4 June
2022
.
"Um die Wurst" erganzt die seit 12. Mai laufende Sonderausstellung "Die Sinalco-Epoche. Essen, Trinken, Konsumieren nach 1945", die noch bis zum 25. September zu sehen ist.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Automats
.