Hot chips at your fingertips

Western Australian ingenuity has come up trumps again, with a planned commercial roll out of a new vending machine designed in Perth which is capable of cooking a portion of hot chips in around 90 seconds.

The machine is the brainchild of public relations executive Jim Murphy, who travelled to Israel six years ago and found a similar version, which he brought back and re-engineered.

Together with friends Peter Malone and Henry Steingiesser, the trio established The Hot Chips Company Pty Ltd, and estimate they have invested in excess of $5 million into the business to date, of which $1 million has been spent on creating an electronic prototype machine with eight separate potential patents.

Mr Murphy revealed that one of the key ingredients to the success of the machine is the brown rice oil they discovered in Thailand, which has only just become commercially available last month.

Where most oils, such as beef tallow and canola blends, have a burn rate of between 170 degrees and 180 degrees, Mr Murphy said brown rice oil has a burn rate of between 240 degrees and 250 degrees, which means cooking time is reduced and the oil can be preserved for longer.

The oil is reportedly very low in saturated fats, high in antioxidants and is not readily absorbed into a potato chip when fried.

“Brown rice oil is extracted from the husks of rice and is very unusual in that it has a low fat content and doesn’t get soaked into the chips,” Mr Murphy said.

“It may be very new to the market, but it’s sure to revolutionise the fast food industry.”

The company believes its machine will also change the nature of fast food service in Australia by making it compatible with the estimated 200,000 drink vending machines around Australia.

At a cost of $20,000 per machine to manufacture, it is designed to fit in confined spaces without producing unpleasant fumes or smoke.

This is achieved via a three-stage filter design, which acts to dissipate rising heat and fumes while allowing the freezer unit above the oil vat to operate under normal conditions, causing no variation in internal temperatures.

Hot Chips chief executive Peter Malone said their immediate goal was to get a test model into a commercial environment, such as a 24-hour mini-mart, service station, major supermarket, university or café, with an ambition to eventually install more than 40,000 machines around the country.

Mr Malone said one machine could dispense an average of 73 serves a day, and priced at $2.50 per serve, he estimated it could generate the company in excess of $50,000 in one year.

“For every five drink machines in Australia you could easily have one hot chips machine. Between now and Christmas we want to start to make this happen and really perfect the model in that time,” he said.

The machine will be dependent upon regular servicing as it has been designed to deliver 120 serves prior to requiring a refill of frozen chips and replacement cups; but Hot Chips has this covered with plans to develop a fleet of service vehicles manned by trained technicians.

Each technician will be expected to look after 20 machines in any given geographical area.

Not to be outdone, the company has installed an automatic chicken salt and tomato sauce dispenser, which will soon to be joined by sachets of vinegar and mayonnaise for those with discerning palates.