A fridge that runs the shop by itself.
Smart-fridge vending is unmanned retail: a connected fridge that knows who opened the door, what they took and how to charge for it — open 24/7 with no staff on site. CODT Technologies engineered FeelEat's Happy Fridge platform end to end, cutting theft by roughly 90% for a business now valued at $10M+.
Every door opening is a known customer.
Scan to unlock
The door only opens for a known, payable customer — QR and app-based unlocking with per-user sessions, so the fridge knows exactly who is shopping before anything leaves the shelf.
Take your meal
Customers browse the menu in the app, with nutrition, allergens and ingredient origins for every dish, then simply take what they want. Live inventory telemetry tracks what leaves each shelf in real time.
Charge on door close
The sale settles automatically when the door closes. There is no checkout step for anyone to skip.
The fleet stays observable
Stock, temperature and health stream from every fridge into operations, with OTA updates across the network. At locations with a self-service kiosk, the median order completes in 42 seconds at 99.7% uptime.
9+ years running a real unmanned-retail business.
FeelEat Happy Fridge — Swiss unmanned retail, 24/7
For FeelEat in Switzerland we built the whole loop as one system: the connected fridges, the scan-to-unlock flow, in-app payment, live inventory telemetry and the menu. More than 9 years on, the same team still ships every release, and the fridges sell around the clock without staff on site.
Questions operators ask about smart-fridge retail
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What exactly is smart-fridge vending?
A connected fridge that works as its own shopkeeper. It identifies the buyer before the door opens, tracks what leaves the shelf and charges automatically when the door closes. That makes fresh-food retail possible in workplaces and shared spaces with no cashier, no terminal and no staff, 24/7.
How does the fridge stop people stealing stock?
Access control plus automatic charging closes the loop: the door only unlocks for a known, payable customer, per-user sessions record what was taken, and the sale settles on door close. On FeelEat's Happy Fridge platform this cut theft by roughly 90% compared with honour-system fridges.
How do customers actually pay?
In the app, automatically. A customer scans to unlock, takes what they want and is charged when the door closes. It takes two taps, with no checkout queue. At locations with a kiosk, self-service orders complete in a 42-second median with 99.4% payment success.
Can this really run unattended around the clock?
Yes — that is the whole business model. Every fridge streams stock, temperature and health telemetry, with alerts and over-the-air updates so failures are fixed remotely before perishable stock spoils. FeelEat's fleet has run this way for 9+ years; the kiosk surface holds 99.7% uptime.
What would it take to build something like this for us?
We scope every platform per engagement and connect the fridges, payment flows and back office to your operation. It starts with a paid discovery sprint that ends in a fixed quote before any build begins.
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