A History Of The Automat, The 20th-Century Dining Fad Of The Future The first Automat appeared in Berlin in 1895 in an Art Nouveau-style dining room Integrating technology and the dining experience appealed to modern customers, and so the Automat soon caught on across the Atlantic In 1902, Philadelphia-based restauranters Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart opened their first Automat named Horn and Hardart