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Now a baker in France, yes, France, has successfully developed a baguette vending machine. Jean-Louis Hecht's invention pops out long, fresh-baked loaves round the clock. The aim is to satisfy nightowls and other people who just have to get a baguette at the wee hours of the morning.
The baker got the idea when customers would knock on his doors (he lives above his bakery) asking for baguettes at all hours of the night.
Some of the famously fickle and proud French, the AP reports, seem to be warming up to the two locations. In July, the machines sold 4,500 loaves. At this rate, the AP states, the new machines will break even in a year.
The concept of a 24-hour baguette machine would never work here, but maybe a donut machine, or how about fresh fries?
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.