White Castle Is Launching Even More Burger Vending Machines

Back in February, Sporked contributor Tatiana Tenreyro shared the fantastic news that White Castle was coming out with a self-serve White Castle vending machine. The first Crave & Go kiosk debuted in Boston Logan Airport and we assume it’s been quite the success because the company recently announced they’re expanding. With some serious fervor, I might add.

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You’ll be able to get your White Castle craving sorted anytime, anywhere.

While the first kiosk was placed in an airport, White Castle isn’t limiting their reach this second time around. They are putting kiosks in hospitals, on college campuses, and in workplaces across the country. White Castle views automated retail as the next step in their hope to meet customers with their iconic sliders when the craving strikes, regardless of where they live. For instance, I’m in Los Angeles where the nearest White Castle is in LAS VEGAS, NEVADA—that’s a whole-ass different state!

White Castle’s able to do this through a partnership with Automated Retail Technologies (ART) who develops “Just Baked” kiosks. Coincidentally, “Just Baked” is also the clientele that White Castle’s hoping to service with this new product. C’mon we all saw Harold & Kumar…

White Castle’s aiming for in-house quality, anywhere, but it might not be that easy…

Thanks to the original Boston kiosk, we’ve been able to get some reports on how the quality of the made-to-order vending machine is in reality. Tatiana shared one-man-on-the-ground’s reporting earlier this year: “Influencer Exploring With Josh tried it at the Boston Logan International Airport and [did not have a great experience]. While he was impressed by the sliders being ‘smoking hot,’ he remarked that the burgers looked ‘nasty’ and tasted like ‘prison food.’’’ Ouch.

But hey, food Instagrammer Snackolator got to test out the vending machine burgers at the National Restaurant Show and was really happy with how they tasted, explaining that while he loves the regular ol’ microwave sliders, he liked these even better “because there is a custom tray that steams them inside, so everything comes out super fresh.”

Are burger vending machines the way of the future or a stale idea? Only time will tell. We’ll be finding out for ourselves the nanosecond one arrives in the SoCal.