After feeling the entrepreneurial itch to launch a shawarma restaurant, COVID-19 led to the addition of a shawarma vending machine for this immigrant entrepreneur.

Kausarat (Kozy) Fawehinmi serves shawarma 24/7 with her Laud Shawarma machine.

April 14, 2021 | by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Looking for a simple, tasty and healthy meal while eating on the run?

If you happen to be at the Bowie Town Center in Bowie, Maryland, you can buy a frozen shawarma from a vending machine that you can heat and serve in a few minutes.

The Laud Shawarma machine is one of several food machines born during the coronavirus pandemic. The brainchild of Kaosarat (Kozy) Fawehinmi, a Nigerian immigrant, the colorful machine offers seven varieties of Nigerian style shawarma prepared by hand.

Fawehinmi, who was 16 when her family came to the U.S. 20 years ago, did not get her entrepreneurial itch until after a formal business education and a career in project management. She studied electrical engineering at Howard University in Washington, D.C., followed by a master's degree in technology management at the University of Maryland.

Like many foodservice entrepreneurs, Fawehinmi couldn't help but notice the lack of healthy food available to working people with limited time for meals. She believed many Americans would appreciate the shawarma she enjoyed in her native country.

Shawarma is a staple Middle Eastern food that consists of meat cut into thin slices, then stacked and roasted on a turning vertical spit or rotisserie.

Two years ago, Fawehinmi left her position as a project manager for the U.S. Department of Labor to open Laud Shawarma, a shawarma carryout restaurant in Beltsville, Maryland. She operated the restaurant single handedly, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

When the pandemic struck in March of 2020, Fawehinmi had to close the restaurant for a few weeks. While she was closed, she pondered ways to serve people after hours.

"I realized that doctors especially didn't have that much access to good food after hours," Fawehinmi told Vending Times in a recent phone interview. "They have to be there 24/7. The restaurants have closed."

She came up with the idea for a shawarma vending machine.

"I started searching the internet for companies that manufacture a frozen food vending machine," she said.

She came across Fastcorp Vending LLC, which manufactures a frozen food machine that uses robotic arms to deliver the product from freezer bin to the chute. She noticed the machine has been used by various food brands.

Fawehinmi ordered a machine, then hired a graphic designer to create the images of the meat and flour tortillas on the front of the machine.

The machine has a Nayax card reader and accepts credit and debit cards, but not cash. Fawehinmi could add a cash recycler to accept cash, but she does not think the additional sales would be worth having to service the recycler and deal with mechanical malfunctions.

"Besides, everybody has some form of debit, credit, wireless card these days," she said.

She arranged to place the machine in the Bowie Town Center in Bowie, Maryland, which is close to Bowie State University and some medical buildings. She installed the machine in November.

Fawehinmi cooks the shawarma in a kitchen that is separate from her restaurant kitchen, wraps it and freezes it.

The machine holds 130 shawarmas, featuring seven 24-ounce selections that come wrapped in sandwich wrap and saran wrap: chicken, beef, sausage, chicken-and-beef, chicken-and-sausage, beef-and-sausage and chicken-beef-and-sausage. The packages are six to seven inches long and come with ketchup and mayonnaise. The shawarmas cost $6-$8 apiece.

The machine does not heat the shawarma, but several microwaves are available for use in the vicinity. Many of her customers are university students who can use microwaves in their dormitories.

She restocks the chicken items every other week and the other items every three weeks.

Fawehinmi has advertised the machine on Instagram and Facebook, which has helped improve sales.

"More and more, as people know about it, it gets better, but I think it can definitely be better than where we are right now," she said.

Fawehinmi plans to stay in foodservice, even though she is not earning as much as when she was as a government project manager.

"I didn't get the kind of freedom I'm getting right now," she said.

She plans to add employees and add more machines and restaurants, and has her eye out for other high traffic areas.

One lesson the pandemic has taught the commercial foodservice industry is that today's vending machines play an important role in foodservice.

For an update on how the coronavirus pandemic has affected convenience services, click here.

Photos courtesy of Laud Shawarma.

Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.

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