Crushed Red founder Chris LaRocca is never happy sitting still. The founder and CEO of Crushed Red always has his eye on expansion and currently, he is looking to assist hungry travelers at St. Louis Lambert International Airport’s (STL) Terminal 2 (T2) with his latest venture: the Crushed Red Buy & Fly. This self-serve, grab and go “café”, if you will, has a wide selection of Crushed Red’s Urban Crafted Salads and Folded Flats, all colorfully displayed in their branded coolers.
That’s what you would expect in a busy airport. What you don’t expect is… a self-serve pizza kiosk! The first one of its kind in St. Louis, this self-contained pizza kiosks boasts touch screen technology and a self-contained oven that delivers piping hot Crushed Red pizzas on demand in 3 minutes.
“We love the idea of having fresh-made self-serve pizzas available for STL travelers in T2,” says STL Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge. “We are certain our passengers will not just be pleased with the pizzas, but also impressed by the technology.”
“I was so impressed to find this technology,” says LaRocca. “It’s truly a unique invention that delivers a high-quality result.” He was so excited about the kiosk, he flew all the way to Europe to see it in person at the manufacturer. And, if you thought pizza on demand sounds too good to be true, you can also order a trio of hot, gigantic chocolate chip cookies as well.
Getting it to STL was no small feat either. After the machine was custom built and wrapped, it was hauled over land to a container ship, crossed the Atlantic, was put on a train bound for Chicago and…misplaced! Once the transport company was finally able to locate the kiosk, it was onto another truck for final delivery to the Chesterfield Crushed Red for testing. LaRocca states: “This project has been over a year in the making and I’m just glad it made the trip in one piece."
