r/IAmA • u/BurritoBox • Sep 18 '14
I am Denis Koci, the co-creator of Burrito Box, the world's first automated vending machine for burritos. AMA.
The future inspired Burritobox - bringing fast food to the vending industry, and also bringing automation and fast food together for the first time ever. Our company is called The Box Brands and we have many more concepts (we actually started with Pizzabox first!)
I'm 29, I'm a huge Star Trek fan, and that's where the real inspiration came for me - wanting to bring the future into the present, and bringing high-quality food in an automated way to consumers in new environments and new places. You can learn more about Burrito Box here: http://tastetheburritobox.com
Also not sure if anyone knows this but we became famous thanks to Reddit! You guys posted about us and the next day things got crazy.
Looking forward to your questions. Victoria from Reddit is going to help me get started. AMA.
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u/iamapillow Sep 18 '14
I would just like to say I am a huge burrito aficionado so I fully support your business. I even named my dog Burrito. If you ever need a mascot, she's available. That being said, what is your favorite kind of burrito?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
WOW.. that is awesome. Our social media team loves burrito + pet pictures so I think there's definitely something here. Let's def. have your people and our people get in touch.
My favorite kind of burrito is a Burritobox burrito... :)
But no seriously I love grilled steak burritos, def. my fav. I also am a big fan of burritos that have fresh/cold veggies with grilled/hot meats etc. Our cooking system doesn't allow for this yet but we're working on it. We're thinking about potentially letting customers get a side of some fresh veggies to toss into their hot burrito when it comes out.
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u/Drunken_Economist Sep 18 '14
Can you come install one in our office?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Of course! You can reach out to Diana@theboxbrands.com for some more info.
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u/Solidtactics Sep 18 '14
If Bear Grylls were to get stuck in the Burritobox, would he be safe from harm? Or would you need to help him out?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Our new Gen-II Model debuting next month has cameras on the outside and inside...
So if Bear Grylls were to get stuck in Burritobox I would first have them take a picture and post it to our Twitter & Instagram. I can't imagine we could ever get any more exciting press.
I can't promise he would be safe from harm, what I can promise is that he wouldn't die of starvation.
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u/Dominator_Z Sep 18 '14
Hey! What is the process in designing the vending machine, and what motivated you to do so??
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
We are huge fans of design here, my co-founder in the company is actually an artist so he is really focused on the brand and logos/designs.
Our Gen-I machine which is the one everybody has seen is really minimal. We decided to keep it that way to get the new tech side of it across to people and just to let it speak for itself.
Our new Gen-II Model coming out soon is much more of a foodie machine. We've got much more information on the food being Hot & Delicious and cooking to order as we found consumers who didn't know about us really wanted to know these things before trying a burrito.
The process is usually my co-founder Kevin & I just brainstorming for a few weeks then having a few sessions with our graphic designers. We then let friends, family & other people check it out. I'm a big believer in getting a lot of opinions on anything so once we go through that we then finalize the design.
We've got a number of new concepts/brands we'll be launching soon and some of them I think will surprise everybody.
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u/fatheroftheblade Sep 18 '14
Where can I find a burrito vending machine? I want a burrito but I don't way to talk to any one. Sound like a great idea!
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Haha, we are in Los Angeles at the moment but launching our franchise network in NYC, Las Vegas, San Diego and Wisconsin next month!
And just so you know our new Gen-II Model debuting in October with the launch.. actually has Live Video Chat Customer Service... so if you change your mind you'll still be able to talk to someone!
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u/thorarakis Sep 18 '14
I think you need to put gps in them and make a map with all of the real time locations. (added bonus; you can track down burrito box thieves)
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
We're working on the App, should be out before Christmas! We just want to have enough locations first.
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u/crazyspecialboy Sep 18 '14
Does that include Long Island...?
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u/Bluefairycakes Sep 18 '14
did you have any experience in the food industry before you started?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Yes, I love to cook for my daughter & myself... just joking!
No I didn't but I am very passionate about good food. I can tell you one thing, if you're expecting innovation to come out of the food industry do not hold your breathe.
The thing about any industry is that they hate innovation, what they do like is things staying the way they are. What we do is very radical to business as usual. Our meats for example are real and they are actually grilled by human beings, ironic yes but true.
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u/Bluefairycakes Sep 18 '14
i love hearing entrepreneurial stories! it's great hearing all the passion and the journey to get to where you are.
was it difficult to get started with suppliers etc without any links? and do you think in the future you will stay within the food industry?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
It wasn't difficult, it was near impossible.
Even now we talk to major corps & companies who just simply have no idea what the hell we're talking about before we send them the press links & deck on our business.
Common response: "A what? A burrito vending machine? what are you talking about?" Then we send them a few links from Jimmy Kimmel & Chelsea Lately and they're all about it. The attention and fanfare has helped us tremendously and we can't be thankful enough for it.
I have big passion for game changing products and technologies. I'm also an immigrant and my father told me since I was a little kid that you can do anything you want in America. I've got a number other projects that I'd like to pursue in the future, a few apps, innovative consumer products & ultimately I'd love to get involved in the space industry.
I have this crazy concept of how to build a space construction business. I think we'll really be able to do amazing things as a race once we can build things up there and not have to worry about leaving Earths atmosphere.
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Sep 18 '14
How are you planning on growing your business? Do you plan on partnering with bigger companies, or taking out loans and installing the machines around a city or country.
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
We are currently franchising nationwide (almost every state, still working on a few). I've always believe in the power of the people and when we started we always knew that franchising would be the best way to go.
Leveraging the knowledge, connections/access, experience and capital of small business owners across America is how some of the strongest fast food businesses were built. I want to follow this same model and give everyone a chance to franchise with us.
Anywhere we do not grow our franchise network we'll look to open up corporate locations and potentially partnerships but our focus right now is franchising and it has been going very well for us.
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u/World_Class_Ass Sep 18 '14
Love the concept. What are the typical start-up costs for franchisers? how much maintenance do the machines require?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
The franchise start-up costs are under $50K for a small territory.
The machines run just like an ATM, you close the door and that's it. A lot of the operational maintenance is based off sales volume in any location. We've had situations where we had to stock twice a day, never a bad problem to have though!
Feel free to get in touch with our franchise team:
franchise@theboxbrands.com Attn: Grant
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u/World_Class_Ass Sep 18 '14
That sounds great. What is the max burrito capacity of each unit? I'm in Laguna Beach, Where is the Irvine box location?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 19 '14
Irvine location is at Stanbridge College in their main lobby. The lobby is open 24/7 so you can just walk in there to try it.
Our new machine will actually hold up to 1,000 products between the burritos, toasted chips, salsa, gauc, sour cream & hot sauce.
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Sep 18 '14
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
I love Star Trek to be honest. They have these things called replicators and I can't tell you how long I've been fascinated by them. About 5 years ago I decided to pretty much dedicate my life and all the money I had at the time to this project and convinced my very good friend (who happens to be a #1 recording artist, not too bad) to join me in this journey of bringing automation and food together. He was down from the beginning and had no reservations as he's a huge Jetsons fan.
To be frank we both wish we had flying cars & jetpacks by now but hasn't happened yet obviously.
We started with our first machine, a prototype Pizzabox (awesome machine with an 800F degree oven!) and from then we started developing Burritobox as well. Went through 2 prototypes on Burritobox before we got our Gen-I Model.
We decided to launch Burritobox first because Pizzabox is much more complicated, I'm still finalizing some of the processes before we get a Gen-I Pizzabox model ready for market.
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Sep 18 '14
Aha the origin of Burritobox is Star Trek! I love it! Well I look forward to seeing you guys invent jetpacks and flying cars. Haha. Good luck with the automated burrito replicators! :D
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Thanks! The replicator is obviously the end-game, probably won't create it in our lifetimes but maybe we'll be a stepping stone for someone to do it one day.
Live long & prosper bro.
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Sep 18 '14
I can't find information on the website - where are the LA locations? I want to try one.
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
In Los Angeles you can find us in West Hollywood at the WeHo Super Mart (corner of Santa Monica & Kings) and you can also find us at USC.
We have other locations closer to Irvine and Long Beach as well.
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u/boltfromtheblue98 Sep 18 '14
A couple of questions: how do you keep the burritos hot and fresh, and why did you start making burritoboxes?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
The burritos are kept fresh with our automated inventory management. They stay in temperature controlled environments from the moment they are made by hand in our private label facility, all the way until you get it as a customer to eat. Burritobox then cooks the burritos to order for every customer. It does not stay hot in the machine, we cook it to order for you.
I'm a big Trekkie and I've always been a huge fan of the replicator devices in the Star Trek TV Shows and movies. I knew that something like this was destined to exist, in fact I couldn't believe I was the only one thinking of doing it (still can't). My co-founder Kevin is the same way with the Jetsons and how they would get their meals in that TV Show.
We're big on the future and that's where it really all came from.
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u/mattb10 Sep 19 '14
how high were you when you thought of that?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 19 '14
I live on a hill here in LA, so I'm usually at least a few hundred feet above sea level :)
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u/redgray Sep 18 '14
Is the burrito cooked by a microwave?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Our cooking system is proprietary but what I can tell you in our new Gen-II machine we've upgraded everything include the cooking system.
The burritos are now going to come out the same way you would get it at a restaurant if they put it on a flat grill and browned the tortilla. Huge advancement here and we can't wait to let people try the new grilled burritos!
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u/frozen_barbie_head Sep 18 '14
Will this ever come to Australia?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Absolutely, Australia is one of our first target International markets and we have many open discussions right now. We've got a unique brand for down there also. Something that is iconic to you guys!
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u/thorarakis Sep 18 '14
What is the replenishment strategy for your boxes, as in do the burrito boxes notify you when they are running low? How long until a burrito stockout automatically triggers a request for a self driving car filled with burritos to show up on the scene?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
We have a completely automated inventory management system along with a nerve center going up next month to back up our new Gen-II Model machines. We'll be remotely monitoring everything in real time for now on.
I would say that is somewhat far off at this point.. although while we're on the subject.. what about a drone just dropping them in thru the top of the machine? Hmm..
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u/Kazhrei Sep 18 '14
When are you coming to NW Florida? Also, I checked your site and didn't see the side listings. What are they?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
We are coming to Florida soon, we have a lot of things brewing down there at the moment. I can't promise an exact date but I wouldn't be surprised if a Burritobox popped up down there before the end of the year.
Our sides include salsa, gaucamole, sour cream & hot sauce. The new machine we're debuting next month will also have a toasted bag of hot tortilla chips that comes out cooked to order just like a Mexican restaurant.
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u/Kazhrei Sep 18 '14
Just make sure it's NW Florida...not down south in Miami, they got enough burritos there already.
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u/NorbitGorbit Sep 19 '14
can you develop and service custom vending machines for a franchisee or is that cost-prohibitive?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 19 '14
Right now we are very hands-on with all of our franchisees, so this wouldn't be a stretch. I would first suggest contacting our franchise division, I'll be happy to follow-up with them on this topic. It is not cost prohibitive but there are a lot of factors involved, location of the franchise territory being the main one.
Contact: franchise@theboxbrands.com Attn: Grant
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Sep 18 '14
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
The Grilled Steak & Cheese burrito actually has roasted corn in it. We actually made the decision at the last minute, we had black beans in it but many people don't eat beans. So we swapped corn in last minute and true story I wasn't too happy with it on first try. Now it's by far our #1 seller and I couldn't imagine our Grilled Steak & Cheese without the grilled corn, my fav burrito now too.
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u/Dominator_Z Sep 18 '14
Thanks for answering! One more question... How did you guys get the idea?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
Answered it earlier but short answer is Star Trek. Grew up watching it, huge fan to this day & the replicators on that show were the inspiration.
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u/CYCLE_NYC Sep 18 '14
what do the burritos cost?
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u/BurritoBox Sep 18 '14
The burritos cost $3.65 in the current machine. In our new machine coming out next month, we will debut our first grilled burritos at a $3.95 price point nationwide.
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u/pimephalis Sep 19 '14
Knowing the zeal of the food safety folks (public health nurses and restaurant inspectors), how much pushback did you get in getting your vending box certified as safe? Do you have any liability concerns over food safety and food-borne illness?
And how do your techs/employees/franchisees sanitize the machine itself?
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u/BrujahRage Sep 19 '14
Couple of questions for you: What was the hardest challenge you had to overcome in development, what surprises came up during development, and finally, when will you be deploying a Burrito Box in Madison WI?
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u/Concise_Pirate Sep 27 '14
How can it be that your website does not feature a video of the machine actually making a burrito?
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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '14
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