In California, Robots Can Make Your Pizza, and You Can Pay With Your Face

A hi-tech fast food startup has become the latest company to embrace PopID’s biometric payments system.

Based in California, Piestro is a startup that aims to fully automate the pizza-making process. Essentially, it uses robots housed in large vending kiosks to make pizzas to order, without the need for the intervention of a human chef. And now it’s letting customers make a payment with a face scan, thanks to PopID’s PopPay solution.

The latter is based on facial recognition technology. A customer who signs up for PopPay will have their face biometrics tied to a payment account, enabling them to make purchases without the need for cash, card, or any kind of payment hardware.

The new partnership will see Piestro integrate PopID’s solution into some of its Piestro machines, enabling its customers to pay with their face at the kiosk. PopPay users will also be able to pay for pre-orders via selfie on the Piestro app.

“Integrating PopID into our system will allow our customers a safe and reliable way to pay for their pizzas while also expediting the overall process from ordering to eating,” explained Piestro CEO Massimo De Marco. “We want our customers to experience our deliciously crafted pizzas as quickly as possible, without sacrificing the quality of the product or their health and safety. PopID does that, and we are excited to partner with them to give customers the payment experience they deserve.”

The partnership offers the latest sign of PopID’s growing prominence. A subsidiary of Cali Group, the company’s naked payments solution got its start at a CaliBurger restaurant last year; and it went on to deploy PopPay at a number of restaurants as well as retail establishments in the following months. PopID has also explored the use of its facial recognition technology in access control applications, announcing a partnership with Open Options in September.

“As we navigate our way out of the pandemic, the demand for contactless ordering and payment options is not going away any time soon,” asserted Cali Group Chairman John Miller. “PopID is the go-to universal gateway for contactless payment applications and will enable Piestro to offer an innovative user experience that exceeds customer expectations.”