Editing Automat (section)

== By country ==
===Germany===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-25350-0001, Berlin, Alexanderplatz, Automatenrestaurant, Nacht.jpg|thumb|An automat in East Berlin, 1954]]
The first documented automat was [[Quisisana]], which opened in 1895 in [[Berlin]], Germany.<ref name="Smith Oliver 2015 p. 24">{{cite book | last1=Smith | first1=A.F. | last2=Oliver | first2=G. | title=Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City | publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-19-939702-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NNieCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 | access-date=June 15, 2017 | page=24}}</ref> In 1904, a similar restaurant opened in [[Breslau]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abebooks.com/paper-collectibles/Postkarte-Carte-Postale-33547134-Breslau-Niederschlesien/30336967514/bd|title = Postkarte Carte Postale 33547134 Breslau Niederschlesien Restaurant Automat Breslau Niederschlesien: Manuscript / Paper Collectible &#124; Versandhandel Boeger}}</ref>

=== Japan ===
In Japan, in addition to [[Vending machines#Popularity in Japan|vending machines]] that sell prepared food, many restaurants also use [[Shokken|food ticket machines]] ({{langx|ja|食券機|shokkenki}}). This process involves purchasing a meal ticket from a [[vending machine]], which is then presented to a server who prepares and serves the meal.

[[Conveyor belt sushi|Kaitenzushi]] restaurants, which [[Conveyor belt sushi|serve sushi on conveyor belts]], are also common in Japan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Feng Hsin-I |first=Cindy |date=2011 |title=The Tale of Sushi: History and Regulations |url=https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2011.00180.x |journal=Institute of Food Technologists |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=206–207 |doi=10.1111/j.1541-4337.2011.00180.x |via=Wiley Online Library|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Netherlands ===
[[File:Vendingautomaat warme snacks Efteling.jpg|thumb|An automat in [[Efteling]]]]
[[File:Smullers.JPG|thumb|A [[Smullers]] automat/[[snack bar]] at [[Den Haag Centraal railway station]]]]
Automats ({{langx|nl|automatiek}}) provide a variety of typical [[Dutch cuisine#Fast food|Dutch fried fast food]], such as [[frikandel]]len and [[Croquette|croquettes]], as well as [[Hamburger|hamburgers]] and sandwiches from vending machines which are back-loaded from a kitchen.

[[FEBO]] is the best-known chain of Dutch automats, with some outlets [[open 24 hours]] a day. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Brenner |first=Elysia |date=2014-02-05 |title=Power-ranking the FEBO automat's wall of food |url=https://www.thrillist.com/eat/amsterdam/best-menu-items-at-febo-power-ranking-the-febo-automat-s-wall-of-food-thrillist-amsterdam |access-date=2024-01-31 |website=Thrillist |language=en}}</ref>

=== United States ===
[[File:20200729 0818-0820 CHESTNUT.jpg|left|thumb|150px|818 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, the site of the first U.S. Horn & Hardart Automat, pictured with original automat signage in July 2020.]]

The first automat in the United States was opened by food services company [[Horn & Hardart]] on June 12, 1902, at 818 Chestnut St.<ref name="Automat-Restaurants" /> in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>"[http://www.14to42.net/36street2.html Horn & Hardart Automat, 968 6th Ave. between 35th & 36th Sts. (1986)]", 36th Street, [http://www.14to42.net/ New York City Signs -- 14th to 42nd Street].</ref> Inspired by Max Sielaff's automat restaurants in [[Berlin]], they were among the first 47 restaurants (and the first outside of Europe) to receive patented vending machines from Sielaff's Berlin factory.<ref name="Automat-Restaurants">[https://archive.today/20150316092501/http://cdm16038.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p268001coll12/id/6426/rec/58 Automat-Restaurants – '''AUTOMAT''' GmbH, 23 Spenerstrasse, Berlin, N.W. :: Trade Catalogs and Pamphlets] - [[OCLC]]</ref> The automat spread to [[New York City]]<ref name="Automat-Restaurants" /> in 1912,<ref name="thngofpa">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eOJNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6535%2C4112657 |work=Free Lance-Star |location=(Fredericksburg, Virginia) |agency=Associated Press |title=Automats become a thing of the past in New York |date=December 31, 1977 |page=12}}</ref> and gradually became part of [[popular culture]] in northern [[industrial cities]].

Originally, the machines in U.S. automats only accepted [[Nickel (United States coin)|nickels]].<ref name="Lui">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/6/2006_6_19.shtml 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020152554/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/6/2006_6_19.shtml 
 |title=Bamn! The Automat Is Back – Restaurant – Food & Drink 
 |last1=Lui 
 |first1=Claire 
 |date=<!--November/December 2006 Volume 57, Issue 6--> 
 |year=2006 
 |publisher=American Heritage Magazine 
 |archive-date=2007-10-20 
 |url-status = dead
 |access-date=2015-03-15 
}}</ref> A cashier sat in a change booth in the center of the restaurant, behind a wide marble counter with five to eight rounded depressions. The diner would insert the required number of coins in a machine and then lift a window, hinged at the top, and remove the meal, which was usually wrapped in waxed paper. The kitchen was located behind the machines and used to replenish them from the rear.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 30, 2007 |title=Landmarks Preservation Commission |url=https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2192.pdf |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}</ref>

Automats were popular with a wide variety of celebrity patrons, including [[Walter Winchell]] and [[Irving Berlin]]. The New York automats were also popular with [[unemployed]] [[Songwriter|songwriters]] and [[Actor|actors]]. Playwright [[Neil Simon]] called automats "the [[Maxim's]] of the disenfranchised" in 1987.<ref name='Times-1991' />

The automat was threatened by the arrival of [[fast food]] restaurants, which served food over the counter with more payment flexibility than traditional automats. By the 1970s, the automats' remaining appeal in their core urban markets was chiefly [[nostalgia|nostalgic]]. Another contributing factor to their demise was [[inflation]], which caused an increase in [[food prices]] and made the use of coins inconvenient in a time before bill acceptors were common on vending equipment.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

At one time, there were 40 [[Horn & Hardart]] automats in New York City. The last one closed in 1991, when the company had converted most of its New York City locations into [[Burger King]] restaurants. At the time, customers had been noticing a decrease in the quality of the food.<ref name='Times-1991'>{{cite news | first=James | last=Barron | title=Last Automat Closes, Its Era Long Gone | date=April 11, 1991 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/11/nyregion/last-automat-closes-its-era-long-gone.html | work =The New York Times | access-date = 2009-07-16 }}</ref><ref name='AP-1991'>{{cite news | title=New York's Last Automat Closes | date=April 11, 1991 | work= St. Petersburg Times | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iZwMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6820,42067&dq=automat+1991 | agency =Associated Press | access-date = 2009-07-16 }}</ref>

=== 2000s US revivals ===
In an attempt to revive automats, a company called Bamn! opened a Dutch-style automat store in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] in New York City in 2006,<ref>{{cite news |last=Matthews |first=Karen |title=Updated Automat to open in New York City |agency=Associated Press |date=August 28, 2006 |website=boston.com |url=http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/08/28/updated_automat_to_open_in_new_york_city/ |access-date=2006-08-28}}</ref> only to close three years later.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ny.eater.com/archives/2009/03/the_shutter_felled_bamn_to_become_baoguette.php |title=The Shutter: Felled Bamn! to Become Baoguette? |website=Eater NY |author=Amanda Kludt |date=March 9, 2009}}</ref> In 2015, another attempt to open an automat was made by a [[San Francisco]] company called Eatsa, which opened six automated restaurants in [[California]], [[New York (state)|New York]], and the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], but they all closed by 2019. The company soon rebranded itself as [[Brightloom]], and continue to sell automation technology to restaurants.

The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] inspired a new wave of automat revival attempts, aimed to adapt to the social distancing guidelines and the desire for [[contactless dining]]. Joe Scutellaro and Bob Baydale opened Automat Kitchen, which specialized in fresh food, in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]]'s [[Newport Centre (shopping mall)|Newport Centre]] in early 2021;<ref>{{Cite news|last=Charlesworth|first=Michelle|date=January 27, 2021|title=Blast from the past: Automat returns with a modern twist|publisher=ABC 7 Eyewitness News|url=https://abc7ny.com/food/blast-from-the-past-automat-returns-with-a-modern-twist/10070679/|access-date=2021-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hamstra|first=Mark|date=February 3, 2021|title=Automat Kitchen puts modern spin on classic no-contact format|url=https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/technology/automat-kitchen-puts-modern-spin-classic-no-contact-format|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203170025/https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/technology/automat-kitchen-puts-modern-spin-classic-no-contact-format |archive-date=2021-02-03 |access-date=2021-02-06|website=Restaurant Hospitality}}</ref> however, it closed after one year of operation because of low foot traffic due to the pandemic.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.reddit.com/r/jerseycity/comments/v50mlf/automat_kitchen_at_newport_mall_is_a_goner/ | title=Automat Kitchen at Newport Mall is a goner | date=4 June 2022 }}</ref> Another automat chain, the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, opened in the East Village in 2021;<ref>{{Cite web|last=Warerkar|first=Tanay|date=January 21, 2021|title=A First Look at Brooklyn Dumpling Shop's Automat|url=https://ny.eater.com/2021/1/20/22241093/nyc-automat-brooklyn-dumpling-shop-video|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120231622/https://ny.eater.com/2021/1/20/22241093/nyc-automat-brooklyn-dumpling-shop-video |archive-date=2021-01-20 |access-date=2021-02-06|website=Eater New York}}</ref> they opened a chain in [[Philadelphia|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], in December 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sheehan |first=Jason |date=2023-12-12 |title=South Street is Getting a New Dumpling Automat |url=https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2023/12/12/brooklyn-dumpling-shop-automat-south-street/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=Philadelphia Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="220px" heights="160px">
File:Automat, 977 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan (NYPL b13668355-482752).jpg|An automat in [[Manhattan]], New York City in 1936.
File:Bamn Automat.png|An automat in Manhattan's [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]], c. 2007.<ref name="Lui" />
File:Horn & Hardart Automat New York City 57th Street.JPG|An automat at 1165 Sixth Avenue, New York City, in the 1930s.
File:Horn & Hardart automat.JPG|A Horn & Hardart postcard explaining how food was served in an automat, c. 1930s.
File:Bamn Automat.jpg|A Bamn! automat, 2006
</gallery>