A vending machine that sells food is a food business. Here's what running a pizza machine in Ireland involves: registering, HACCP, training, allergens, traceability, temperature control and cleaning, and the order we'd set them up in.
We run pizza machines; we're not lawyers. This page sums up guidance from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the HSE as of November 2026. Your local Environmental Health Officer (EHO) has the final say, so talk to them early.
Allow 4 to 6 weeks from start to first sale. Most of that is waiting for samples, training and kit, and several steps can run side by side. The times are our estimates.
A day
1 to 2 weeks, with samples
About 30 minutes online
1 to 3 days, much of it online
1 to 2 weeks
Half a day
A few days for delivery
1 to 2 weeks to arrange
Half a day
About a week
The FSAI's vending machine guidance says machines must be:
If you run the machine and manage the stock, you're responsible for the food in it. If the venue fills it, they share that responsibility, so agree in writing who restocks, cleans, checks temperatures and keeps the records.
Bacteria grow fastest between 5°C and 63°C, the "danger zone". Keep pizzas cold until they're baked, then bake them hot enough. Temperatures are from the FSAI's temperature control advice.
Supermarket frozen pizzas are made to be cooked from frozen. In the machine they thaw and sit at about 3°C, which their packaging doesn't cover.
Pizzas you box yourself for the machine are treated as non-prepacked food. Under the FSAI's rules for non-prepacked food the allergens must be:
Keep each supplier's spec sheet, update the sign whenever a pizza changes, and train whoever stocks the machine to know the 14 allergens. The law is S.I. 489 of 2014, updated by S.I. 656 of 2024.
See how we do it, step by step, in our cold chain and traceability walkthrough.
HACCP means working out what could go wrong at each step, deciding how you'll stop it, checking it, and writing it down.
We've written sample record sheets for all of these, with a sample HACCP plan for a pizza machine.
The FSAI Safe Catering Pack has a HACCP guide and record sheets: €100 posted in Ireland, or download the forms free.
A HACCP plan, record sheets and procedures written for a pizza machine. Each one is filled in with made-up examples to show how it works, and prints as a blank copy, ready to use.
They're samples, based on FSAI guidance: change them to fit how you work, and check them with your EHO.
A sample food safety plan for a pizza machine: each step from buying to selling, what could go wrong, how it's controlled and checked, and the records that prove it.
The 14 allergens against every pizza on the menu, filled in from each supplier's spec sheet, and a notice to put up at the machine.
What to do when a pizza or ingredient is recalled: check, stop sales, remove it from every machine, tell the right people and record it.
Who we buy food and packaging from, what paperwork we hold for each, and when we approved them.
The machine's temperature at every visit, plus your freezer, fridge or van, with what you did whenever it was too warm.
What arrived from each supplier, with batch codes, dates and temperatures, and what went into each machine. Together they make a recall quick.
What gets cleaned, how often and with what, and a sheet to sign off each clean.
Pizzas thrown out, and why: past use-by, damaged, too warm, test bakes or recalls.
Probe checks that each pizza's centre reaches 75°C in the oven: for every new pizza or setting, then regularly.
A monthly check that your probe thermometer reads true, in iced water and boiling water.
Who has been trained in food safety and HACCP, when, and when their refresher is due.
Anything that went wrong, such as a temperature breach, a failed probe check, a complaint or a fault, and what was done about it.
For venues, we've also written a sample contract and documents for setting up and running a machine.
Thinking about hosting a machine? I'll help you work out the location and what the site needs.