A chance discovery while on vacation led to a business opportunity, and with some inspiration from 90’s TV and a little technology, it has created a viral sensation.
Several years ago, Mark Hurson and Leslie Bell, saw a PizzaForno vending machine and thought that it would be great for university students. The husband and wife applied to licence the machine, and launched it on the University of Guelph campus four years ago, and since its been feeding hungry students and athletes 24 hours a day.
Hurson soon noticed a significant drop in sales during the winter months and had considered moving the machine for the season, but then he remembered the many times he had been told about folks gathering around the machine, dancing and having a good time. He got the idea to let his customers make videos while they waited the three minutes for their pizza.
Hurson was a guest on The Mike Farwell Show and said he installed a Ring camera on the unit, which customers can activate with the push of a button.
“We take the funniest clips and we put them on our TikTok and our Instagram, and we post them. And we give whoever we post a free pizza, which is a pretty good trade, I think,” said Hurson.
He added, “We have a take-down notice, so if somebody does something and they regret it, we can certainly take it down within 24 hours. So, we’re very compliant with that sort of thing.”
Hurson said the whole idea was inspired by a couple of TV shows from the 1990’s.
“Your audience will remember Speaker’s Corner… back in the 1990’s on CityTV was a pretty unique thing at the time. And I remember as a teenager going ‘Oh man, I want to do something wacky on there,’ and you’d be waiting to see if you’re on,” Hurson said. “It’s really kind of the same concept. I would say it’s kind of a similar concept to Speaker’s Corner and America’s Funniest Home Videos wrapped into one.”
The videos have been getting thousands of views online, which is attracting more people to the kiosk.
“The funny thing is, in the past, we only had people coming to the machine that are going to the University of Guelph or using the sports facilities. And now we have people coming to the machine that have seen us on TikTok and Instagram and have driven in just to do videos,” said Hurson.
He add they’re even attracting professionals, “We’re getting influencers coming in, so it’s pretty interesting. We’re now, I would say, a content factory.”