This article was published on August 12, 2011

Bon appetit! France gets freshly baked baguette vending machines!


Bon appetit! France gets freshly baked baguette vending machines!

It seems that the traditional French boulangerie has had a 21st century makeover if this contraption is anything to go by.

Jean-Louise Hecht, owner of numerous bakeries around Paris and Hombourg-Haut, decided that embracing the cultural shift in France was a far better idea than clinging to tradition with his fingertips. So he developed a vending machine that turns precooked bread into fresh baguettes.

His dispenser sold 1,600 baguettes in its opening month in January. This jumped to over 4,500 in July, which is a staggering 150 automated baguette transactions a day.

Naturally, many will fear that the popularity of this machine will herald the end of traditional French bakeries. But Hecht told the Associated Press: “This is the bakery of tomorrow. If other bakers don’t want to enter the niche, they’re going to get decimated.”

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See how the machine works for yourself here…

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