When most people walk up to a vending machine, they expect to find sodas, chips or candy bars. But at a new kiosk in San Francisco, customers are met with something different: fresh pasta.

Chef Anthony Strong, owner of Pasta Supply Co., spent Monday restocking his latest project, a vending machine filled with freshly made pastas and sauces prepared at his flagship restaurant in the Mission District.

“So our most popular pasta by far is mafaldine,” Strong said, as he loaded containers into the machine.

Strong says the idea came from wanting to make his restaurant’s ingredients more accessible, even for people who have never visited in person.

The pasta and sauces are produced daily at the shop, then packaged and delivered to the vending machine for customers to take home and cook in minutes.

“I was like, hah, maybe we could actually just open tiny little versions of our pasta shop, selling fresh pastas and sauces, and you know, easy things for dinners at home,” he said.

From mafaldine to rigatoni, Strong said he hopes the machines can help busy workers avoid the nightly scramble for dinner.

“If they’re leaving work and they’re like, ah shoot, I didn’t make a plan for tonight, what am I going to do, we just wanted to be another option so people didn’t have to make an extra stop at a grocery store or go online and order a 40 dollar salad delivered on an app, or anything like that,” he said.

Customers appear curious and hungry. As Strong replenished the machine, David Pincus walked up and inspected the offerings.

“I haven’t seen a vending machine for homemade pasta before, so I hope it works out,” Pincus said. When asked what he chose, he replied, “I got meatballs, bucatini and chocolate panna cotta.”

Strong isn’t Italian, but he credits his early start in the restaurant world at age 15 for setting his path.

“Pasta found me,” he said with a laugh.

With two restaurants already open in San Francisco and more vending machines in development, Strong says his mission is simple: make fresh, approachable meals available to everyone, especially after a long day.

“Getting people, you know, approachable, affordable meals out, and approachable and affordable ingredients for meals at home.”

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A San Francisco holiday staple returns this week.

The Fairmont hotel will unveil its annual gingerbread house Saturday. The two-story confection — built with thousands of gingerbread bricks (baked in-house) and more than a ton of icing and candy decorations — will stand 22 feet high and 23 feet wide.

“Fairmont San Francisco’s talented culinary team, led by Executive Chef Kevin Tanaka, has meticulously planned for construction of this year’s enormous gingerbread house, which will be even larger than in year’s past,” the Fairmont announced Thursday.

The ribbon cutting for this year’s gingerbread house starts at 11 a.m. in the Fairmont lobby. The public event will include live music by the San Francisco Boys Chorus, a towering Christmas tree and an appearance from Santa Claus. Santa will pose for photos from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

“The Gingerbread House takes center stage and fills the halls with its sweet aroma, but the hotel’s holiday trees are also impressive in their own right,” the Fairmont said. “Guests will be enchanted by the 23-foot-tall Christmas tree tickling the ceiling in the Main Lobby.”