July 29, 2020 - A first in the world of French fries as Croatian company Surf'n'Fries debuts its new French Fry Vending Machine at Monty's Dog Beach in Crikvenica

A first in the world of French fries today as Croatian company Surf'n'Fries debuted the pilot of their new French Fry Vending Machine at Monty's Dog Beach in Crikvenica. Now hunger needn't call a halt to the good time your dog and kids are having by the sea; you can get fresh, hot French fries in 35 seconds.

“We started working on it three years ago,” says Andrija Čolak, whose Surf'n'Fries fast food outlet has franchises in four continents. “Automation is key to the food industry, so we thought the ultimate step would be to go to vending machines. So, we collaborated with a Croatian company called Integra and managed to make this pilot.”

“We chose this beach because it's close to our home and we can easily check on it,” says Čolak, who also runs a consultancy firm in Rijeka, the city where he co-founded the well known Kisha umbrella brand. “Also because this beach is very famous and it has a beach bar for dogs. It's a popular place. We adjusted the design and graphics of the machine so it would fit in alongside the beach bar.”

As this first machine is the pilot, it's options are limited to salt and ketchup. But Andrija's vision extends much further. “In the future we plan to add more sauces and probably chicken nuggets as well,” he told TCN from the sun-soaked first day in Crikvenica. “We'll work at this location until the end of the season. After that, the plan is to test it at the main bus station in Zagreb. It has a lot of potential; shopping malls, airports, in particular venues which operate 24 hours.”

“Vending machines are having a bit of a renaissance because you can now connect them to the internet,” reckons Andrija. “That has all sorts of implications for stock ordering and the customer experience. You could use facial recognition to recognise returning customers, ask them if they want the same again or even offer rewards.”

TCN isn't quite sure it wants recognising as a regular indulger in French fries, but if we're in Crikvenica this summer you can count on us sneaking a sample of Surf'n'Fries from the French Fry Vending Machine on Monty's Dog Beach.

After our successful feature on the foreign entrepreneurs trying to make it in Croatia (read their stories here), a new series looking at Croatian businessmen who are making a success of things, despite the difficult business climate. We begin on 18 February, 2018 with Andrija Colak, whose Surf'n'Fries franchise is now all over Croatia and in 50 locations worldwide, including Russia, Iran, Vietnam and South Africa (with India and Kuwait just two of the 2018 confirmed new countries). And if it rains, the clever people are using Andrija's smart umbrella, Kisha. 

The first series including one thousand pieces of the Croatian ‘Kisha’ umbrella sold out in less than three months.

Croatian umbrellas Kisha named as one of the coolest presents this holiday season

More Croatian innovation hits the world stage.