Anautomat is a type offast-food restaurant where food and drink are served through avending machine, typically withoutwaitstaff. The world's first automat,Quisisana, opened inBerlin,Germany in 1895.[3][4]
The first documented automat wasQuisisana, which opened in 1895 inBerlin, Germany.[5] In 1904, a similar restaurant opened inBreslau.[6]
In Japan, in addition tovending machines that sell prepared food, many restaurants also usefood ticket machines (Japanese:食券機,romanized: shokkenki). This process involves purchasing a meal ticket from avending machine, which is then presented to a server who prepares and serves the meal.
Kaitenzushi restaurants, whichserve sushi on conveyor belts, are also common in Japan.[7]
Automats (Dutch:automatiek) provide a variety of typicalDutch fried fast food, such asfrikandellen andcroquettes, as well ashamburgers and sandwiches from vending machines which are back-loaded from a kitchen.
FEBO is the best-known chain of Dutch automats, with some outletsopen 24 hours a day.[8]
The first automat in the United States was opened by food services companyHorn & Hardart on June 12, 1902, at 818 Chestnut St.[2] inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania.[9] Inspired by Max Sielaff's automat restaurants inBerlin, 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 toNew York City[2] in 1912,[10] and gradually became part ofpopular culture in northernindustrial cities.
Originally, the machines in U.S. automats only acceptednickels.[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, includingWalter Winchell andIrving Berlin. The New York automats were also popular withunemployedsongwriters andactors. PlaywrightNeil Simon called automats "theMaxim's of the disenfranchised" in 1987.[13]
The automat was threatened by the arrival offast 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 chieflynostalgic. Another contributing factor to their demise wasinflation, which caused an increase infood 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 40Horn & Hardart automats in New York City. The last one closed in 1991, when the company had converted most of its New York City locations intoBurger King restaurants. At the time, customers had been noticing a decrease in the quality of the food.[13][14]
In an attempt to revive automats, a company called Bamn! opened a Dutch-style automat store in theEast 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 aSan Francisco company called Eatsa, which opened six automated restaurants inCalifornia,New York, and theDistrict of Columbia, but they all closed by 2019. The company soon rebranded itself asBrightloom, and continue to sell automation technology to restaurants.
TheCOVID-19 pandemic inspired a new wave of automat revival attempts, aimed to adapt to the social distancing guidelines and the desire forcontactless dining. Joe Scutellaro and Bob Baydale opened Automat Kitchen, which specialized in fresh food, inJersey City'sNewport 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 inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, in December 2023.[21]
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![An automat in Manhattan's East Village, c. 2007.[11]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBamn_Automat.png)
A form of the automat was used on somepassenger trains. TheGreat Western Railway in the United Kingdom announced plans in December 1945 to introduce an automat onbuffet cars.[22] Plans were delayed by impendingnationalisation, but an automat was finally introduced on theCambrian Coast Express in 1962.[23]
In the United States, thePennsylvania Railroad introduced an automat betweenNew York Penn Station, andWashington Union Station, in 1954.[24]Southern Pacific Railroad introduced automatbuffet cars on theCoast Daylight andSunset Limited in 1962.Amtrak converted four buffet cars to automats in 1985 for use on theAuto Train.
In Switzerland, theBodensee–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-livedLake Country Limited in 2001.
Sample text for Library of Congress control number 2001057805
"Um die Wurst" ergänzt die seit 12. Mai laufende Sonderausstellung "Die Sinalco-Epoche. Essen, Trinken, Konsumieren nach 1945", die noch bis zum 25. September zu sehen ist.
