A new autonomous store powered by Amazon's Just Walk Out technology is now open in the cafeteria at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland, Washington — marking a significant step in how campus foodservice operators are rethinking unattended retail.
365 Retail Markets, a member of Amazon's Just Walk Out Certified Partner Network, built and installed the store in partnership with Evergreen Refreshments, the Pacific Northwest's longest-serving breakroom service provider. The deployment integrates Amazon's sensor-and-AI checkout system directly into the 365 platform Evergreen already uses to manage its campus locations, meaning catalog management, payment processing, and reporting all run through existing workflows.
How the Store Works
Shopping the new store looks nothing like a vending wall or a locked smart cabinet. Students, faculty, and staff enter through a gate using a credit or debit card, mobile wallet, or the 365Pay app. Computer vision and shelf sensors track what items shoppers pick up or put back, building a virtual cart in real time. When a shopper is ready, they simply walk out — no cashier, no self-checkout screen, no queue. The chosen payment method is automatically charged for what was taken.
Jeff Dumbrell, Chief Revenue Officer at 365 Retail Markets, called the launch a demonstration of how autonomous retail can match the pace of a working campus. "Students get a full retail experience with no lines and extended hours, and Evergreen gets a store built to handle campus life at its best and busiest," he said.
What It Means for Operators
For foodservice and refreshment operators considering similar deployments, the operational model here is worth noting. 365 Retail Markets serves as the single point of accountability — managing design, installation, camera calibration, and gate setup — with Amazon providing escalation support on deeper hardware or technology issues. That tiered support structure reduces the integration burden typically associated with deploying emerging restaurant and hospitality technology in a campus environment.
The store is also designed to address a persistent problem in high-traffic campus foodservice: peak-hour abandonment. When lines grow too long at lunch, transactions fall through. A frictionless checkout model handles more throughput in any given window, and it extends revenue-generating hours into periods when only vending machines were previously available.
Arthur Siller, SVP of Business Development at Evergreen Refreshments, noted that the technology gives students "a place to grab what they need, any time of day, without ever waiting in line."
The deployment reflects a broader shift in campus and workplace foodservice trends, where operators are under pressure to serve more guests with flatter staffing levels. Autonomous retail — once a novelty in airport terminals and corporate headquarters — is increasingly viable for mid-size education campuses, thanks in part to certified partner networks that handle the heavy integration lifting. 365 Retail Markets, which expanded its operator footprint significantly following its acquisition of Cantaloupe, Inc. in May 2026, now supports nearly 40,000 operators nationwide across micro markets, vending, and smart store formats.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
