We tried a $20 vending machine pizza. Here’s the verdict
Thursday, 19 February 2026
REVIEW:In case you haven’t heard, Wellington’s railway station now has a vending machine that gives you a hot pizza in less than three minutes.
And after giving it a whirl, I can attest that it’s quite good.
Owned by Stephanie and Vincent Boudet, the NomNom Pizza machine is situated in the main foyer of the transit space. There are a few others around the region, including ones in Avalon Park and Hutt Park Rd.
The pizzas are prepared and mostly cooked in the Hutt before being delivered to the machines. They come in seven different varieties: Simply the Best, Meat me Later, Hot Chick, Pepperholic, Garden Party, Fourmidable, and Spud Buddy
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The Post dropped to try a slice on Wednesday. At 1pm, I thought we would avoid a queue, but there were a few other punters around who also had a hankering for pizza.
Visual journalist Monique Ford and I waited patiently behind a young woman who had also chosen a vending machine pizza for lunch.
We weren’t the only media interested - a young man had shown up with a camera to film himself trying the food.
Finally, the woman at the head of the queue got her pizza and we were up. The pepperoni was already sold out. I picked the Spudbuddy, mostly because I hadn’t tried it before, and Stephanie had told me it was popular in France. That makes it automatically chic…
The three minutes went a lot faster when I was the one waiting for the food. I could smell the pizza cooking its final 20%, and it made my mouth water - I had skipped lunch in the name of journalism.
When the door popped open and my hot and ready pizza there, I’ll admit, I felt a bit of excitement. It came in a white cardboard box with a wooden knife taped to the inside.
The pizza was surprisingly small but it was hot, and obviously “homemade” - as in cooked by people, instead of a chain.
The base was crunchy and fresh, and had been placed on a wire to maintain its crunch, and the toppings tasted fresh and local.
Also, it turns out a Spudbuddy pizza is just fancy Mr Wedge. I’ll take it, because Mr Wedge is good, and the pizza was pretty good too.
We ate it outside the station on the benches in the interest of Wellington authenticity.
I brought back the remainder for my discerning colleagues to try. Senior reporter Deborah Morris said she thought pizza’s crust was pretty decent.
She said it appeared well cooked and was better than a supermarket pizza, but wasn’t sure she would want to spend over $21 though.
The price is obviously a factor, but I think accessibility needs to be taken into account.
With Hurricanes and Wellington Phoenix matches planned for Friday and Saturday at Sky Stadium, there will be a lot of hungry travellers passing through the stadium- many of whom, I’m sure, will be glad to have something hot in their stomach on the train ride home, no matter the expense.