File this post under weird things I have eaten. What do you get when you cross a conveyor belt with one of the most beloved breakfast foods?

Holiday Inn’s express pancake machine. This counter-top appliance churns out one pancake every 18 seconds. So, how does it work? Well, thanks to a trip to Brattleboro, Vt., for Christmas, I got to see first-hand how this gadget works.

According to Hotel F&B magazine, an industry publication for hoteliers, the flapjack maker was rolled out to all of Holiday Inn Express’s 1,800 North American hotels in early 2011. Each machine comes with bags of premade mix that each make 35 pancakes. The batter drops onto a Teflon-coated belt, which lasts for about 60 bags of batter or approximately 2,100 pancakes. (Wow, that’s a lot of syrup!)

I immediately had to try this when we came down to breakfast on Christmas morning. Who wouldn’t want to?!? Instead of the standard prepackaged cereals or yogurt, I was all about having some hot pancakes with syrup.

It’s pretty simple to get the machine to work. The pancake batter is already preloaded, you just need to hit the “OK” button and then two fluffy pancakes make their way down the conveyor belt. Just remember to place a plate at the end, otherwise, your breakfast will flop down on the counter.

I eagerly awaited my pancakes as they traveled down the conveyor belt.  In about a minute, I finally saw a little glimpse of them. They were golden brown and, surprisingly, looked like pancakes.

The breakfast bar area at Holiday Inn comes with syrup options and pats of butter. You can also find scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and other goodies to satiate your morning cravings.

The final product looked very similar to something from a McDonald’s Big Breakfast platter. However, it didn’t taste as good as that. The Holiday Inn pancake was very plasticky and chewy. It can’t even compare to the waffle maker at Fairfield Inn and Suites that I have tried – albeit that is a little more dangerous.