Mukul Dhankar came up with the idea nine years ago, in a company canteen in Brussels. Day after day, the computer scientist was annoyed by the long queues, sometimes 15 minutes long, which prevented him from enjoying his lunch break.

"I wanted to change that," he says. "I didn't want to wait in lines anymore. I thought to myself: how about you just walk into a store, take products and leave. This is the future."

Access to all STERN PLUS content and articles from the print magazine

ad-free

Already registered?