Long queues at Chilli Crab restaurants? No longer a problem, these vending machines got you covered.
The slight mention of our famed national dish, the chilli crab, is enough to make me salivate. But as much as I love chilli crab and its other flavored-brethren, sometimes I prefer to feast in the comfort of my own home where I can get messy and noisy to my heart’s content.
I’m sure many of you share my sentiment.
Well, the good people at House of Seafood recently unveiled perhaps the world’s first ready-to-eat-crab vending machine at its Punggol outlet. You can choose from three flavors: chilli, black pepper and salted egg. It only takes about five minutes, or 270 seconds, for the machine to heat up the pre-cooked crab. Mode of payment is via cash or card.
Even though this idea is great for those of us who would like to tapau this iconic dish home, according to Francis Ng, the owner of House of Seafood, the idea for this vending machine actually stemmed from a business problem: lack of manpower.
With two restaurants and 1000 crabs sold monthly, he needed a way to meet growing demands. Which is why he decided to turn to technology for help.
Francis plans to install two more vending machines at Upper Serangoon Road and Joo Chiat Place, and 100 more islandwide by March.
Other Local Food Vending Machines
The chilli crab vending machine isn’t the only ready-to-eat food vending machine in Singapore. Check out these two machines:
1. Hot Bake
This vending machine dispenses toasted sandwiches which are made fresh daily. There are over 50 varieties of sandwiches, such as Roast Chicken Sandwich, Mushroom Melt and New York Sausage Omelette, though each machine only stocks 2 flavors. The menu changes every 7 to 14 days. Vending machines are available islandwide.
Source: Hotbake
2. Chef In Box
Chef In Box offers cook-chill and cook-freeze ready to serve meals, both local and Western. Though they have vending machines islandwide, it has a vendcafe (the first of its kind in Singapore) at Anchorvale Drive. Dishes include Seafood Hor Fun, Curry Chicken With Rice, Spaghetti With Chicken Meatballs In Tomato Sauce and even Mac and Cheese.
Source: Kopifolks
Vending Machines We Wish To See In Singapore
Variety is always good, so we hope to see these machines coming to our shores soon:
1. Ramen
We love Japanese food, else why do we have so many Japanese restaurants here? So it’s about time we have a vending machine that serves up a bowl of authentic ready-to-eat ramen.
2. Pizza
In Singapore, there is one located at Mandarin Gardens condo, called Chef Mario, but the pizzas are ready-made. In Europe, there is a brand of vending machine called Let’s Pizza, which makes pizza right from scratch.
3. Cupcakes
It’d be fun to get cupcakes from vending machine, like this cute Cupcake ATM from Sprinkles in US.
4. Burrito
Another food item that would be great to grab and go is burrito, like this Burrito Box vending machine that’s available in US.
What are some other food vending machines you’d like to see?
