Vending Machine | Healthy Vending Blog

The Future is Here: Healthy Vending Machines

July 26, 2010 By Patrick Sanders Leave a Comment

Am I the only one extremely disappointed that its 2010 and we are STILL not driving flying cars, watching hologram TV, and popping tasty meals in pill form? Its downright absurd! But I guess to be fair, there are some pretty cool things that have come out. For example: healthy vending machines. That’s right, I said it. There are actually vending machines that dispense health food and sports performance products!

These aren’t your typical big brown boxes with coils just outfitted with a different product mix, either. These healthy vending machines are high-tech! Here’s what I’m talking about:

An LCD Screen: If I could afford it, every wall in my house would be an LCD screen. A vending machine should be no different. Plus, how cool is it to have nutrition facts displayed on screen of the food products you’re about to buy? Its not like you can open the machine up and read the labels. If you have to put guesswork into your healthy snack options, then you’re probably not eating as healthy as you could be.

Cashless payment options: Like most of us, I am horrible at keeping cash around. And nothing is worse than walking by a vending machine hoping for a healthy snack and coming up with lint. Plastic money rules, plain and simple.

Sensors that guarantee that the machine vends correctly: This is as refreshing as the natural and organic options in these machines. You know the diagram on vending machines showing what NOT to do? (i.e. tipping the machines towards you?) Yep, I’ve been THAT guy. Because when I get ripped off by an ugly brown box, I feel stupid. And when I feel stupid, I get angry. Angry + Stupid = I am the guy in the diagram.

Eco-Friendly Design: We all love Mother Earth. (By “we” I am not including British Petroleum). These healthy vending machines use up to 50% less energy than standard vending machines. This means that when you use a traditional vending machine, you are actually harming your body and the environment. Whether you buy organic, natural, or simply healthier food from a healthy vending machine its a double-whammy of positive impact for your body and for the earth.

The bottom line is that while we still may not be able to swallow a complete steak dinner the size of an aspirin, the convenience of a high-tech healthy vending machine is a pretty cool substitute.

Get Schooled on Healthy Vending Snacks

July 21, 2010 By Amy Coplen 1 Comment

Do you know what kinds of products are offered in a traditional vending machine? Of course you do, unless you live under a rock. Now what about healthy vending machines? Do you know what kinds of products are in those? Probably not, right? Watch to get schooled!

Filed Under: HEALTHY VENDING, Healthy Vending Machines, Healthy Vending Products Tagged With: HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, human healthy vending, Vending Business, Vending Industry, vending machine, vending machines

Why Partnering With H.U.M.A.N. Makes Sense

February 22, 2010 By John Pinto Leave a Comment

Aside from our amazing machines and unparalleled customer service, here is the #1 reason you should partner with HUMAN Healthy Vending when you start your own healthy vending business:

In vending, it’s all about finding the best locations. LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS!

Premium locations with high traffic is what any vending machine owner strives for. We at HUMAN could keep our strategies a secret, but we like our operators and potential operators to be fully informed. Check out our 6-Step premium location acquisition process:

Step 1 – 4 stage direct mail campaign to the top 250 locations in your region
Step 2 – 4 to 6 Weeks of Telemarketing to every single healthy vending conducive location in your region that meets our criteria (at least 20 vends per day)
Step 3 – 1 week of in-person location discovery & acquisition training with a HUMAN location pro
Step 4 – A HUMAN location pro attends 30-40 top-tier meetings over the course of a week
Step 5 – Custom press release and media outreach to every newspaper, tv and radio outlet
Step 6 - Constant follow-up marketing and outreach to EVERY location in your region for the lifetime of your partnership

With Step #3, this is all about the “Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime.” We’re training you to be successful in the short and long-run! Which brings me to my next point, #6. We perform continual follow-up marketing for the lifetime of our partnership to ALL of the locations in your region. We have a custom email and customer marketing solution that helps us with this. Additionally, as our brand grows nationally and internationally, you’ll benefit from our success. Everyone who comes to HUMAN is passed along to you. And as our brand grows to tens of thousands of machines, it’s very, very good for you.

Here is a sneak peak of The Media Mogul! My next post will highlight the features of this unbelievable automated retailer/digital media money maker!!!!

Filed Under: ADVICE & EDUCATION, Company Happenings, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Vending Guidelines, Philosophies & Beliefs, The Bigger Picture, Vending Tips & Tricks Tagged With: entrepreneurship, HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, healthy vending machines, human healthy vending, new technologies, Successful vending, technology, upgrade, Vending Business, Vending Industry, Vending Locations, vending machine, vending machines

H.U.M.A.N.: Creating Healthy Vending Success Part II

February 12, 2010 By John Pinto Leave a Comment

Why We Succeed at Schools While Traditional vending Companies Fail Part II

Products that are Actually Healthy AND Taste Good

When a healthy vending program fails to reach optimal success, it almost always has to do something with the products. The products must taste good and they cannot taste that much different than what students are used to. You can’t just change students’ taste preferences on the flip of a dime. Therefore, you must work with them. Take what products students like, find healthy items that taste similar, and offer those products to the students. Healthy snacks don’t have to taste like cardboard, and they shouldn’t!

Healthy products have made a huge stride over the past five to ten ears when it comes to taste. The problem is that many of the best products are not available via standard vending machine product distributors. A vending operator needs to build a network of new suppliers and distributors with different rules, policies, and prices, and many time they’re not willing to do that. HUMAN has never been involved with anything other than healthy vending. Therefore, our suppliers and our network is dialed-in to allow for the distribution of the healthiest, tastiest products that students love. We know what students like, and what they don’t, and that’s the foundation of our program.

With over six years of taste-test research (and many, many mistakes along the way), we know how to put together the perfect healthy snack and drink plangogram (product mix) for students. It’s been a learning experience, but without this experience, success would not be possible today. Without creating the optimal product offering, nothing else matters!

LCD Screens that Educate Students & Catch Their Attention

Beyond the fact that they make the machine look much better, cooler and more innovative, LCD screens also help increase sales at healthy vending machines by educating students about the products inside the machines, providing them with the products nutritional information, & offering nutritional tips & tricks that are useful to students throughout the day. This is all done vi streaming video that can be remotely loaded and, therefore, kept fresh. When getting students to switch to healthy vending, education is so important, and the best way to educate students without doing so in person is via digital LCD screens.

The 1-2-3 Punch

In order for healthy vending to work & succeed at your school, you need all of the above to exist. You can’t do one thing right and two others wrong. You can’t have the best machines and the worst products or vice versa. The entire program needs to make sense and needs to be built for healthy vending success. Healthy vending is not the same game as traditional vending–the delivery method, in that it’s automated, may be the same, but that’s about the only similarity that exists. Everything else is a 180 degree difference. A paradigm shift is needed.

At H.U.M.A.N., healthy vending is our game. Our only game. And our goal is to create healthy vending success where others either cannot, will not, or are not able to do so. I hope we’re able to serve your school and provide your students with a ton of value!

Filed Under: ADVICE & EDUCATION, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Vending Guidelines, Philosophies & Beliefs, VENDING INDUSTRY, Vending News, Vending Tips & Tricks Tagged With: healthier food, healthy drinks, healthy food, healthy snacks, HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, healthy vending machines, human healthy vending, school nutrition, School Vending machines, Successful vending, vending machine, vending machines, vending machines in school, vending machines in schools

H.U.M.A.N.: Creating Healthy Vending Success

February 9, 2010 By John Pinto Leave a Comment

Why We Succeed at Schools While Traditional Vending Companies Fail

Education, Marketing & Promotion at School

In the world of traditional vending, an operator will conduct next to no on-location marketing & promotions. They place the machine, fill it, and once in a while change out products that aren’t selling. That’s it. This is a flawed model regardless of the type of business one is running (what’s more important than marketing & education?), and it’s especially flawed when running a business whose goal is to implement healthier snacks & drinks at school.

Healthy snack brands are often times less recognizable than traditional vending machine fare — students need to be taught about the items. Most importantly, they need to taste the items and learn for themselves that healthy snacks & drinks can and should taste good! These are not your grandma’s healthy foods — they taste just as good as traditional vending fare, but are just a whole lot healthier. Via sampling events, coupon giveaways, digital & standard signage, and consistent promotional strategies (all optional but highly recommended), H.U.M.A.N. operators get to know students and integrate directly into the school’s healthy vending initiative. This has a huge impact!

Innovative Machines Made for Healthy Vending

Selling healthy snacks from a standard, ugly, and boring vending machine is like trying to sell a new car from a used auto parts lot. It’s not going to work. Healthy vending success is all about creating a paradigm shift in the students’ minds regarding what vending, or automated retail, is all about. If the delivery channel is the exact same as standard vending, the students’ minds will expect the same products & experience. The delivery channel needs to change.

By using only new, unique looking machines with customized graphics that tell students “these machines are cool, premium, and good-for-you,” students are much more likely to approach them. And when they do approach them, they’re going to expect something different than traditional vending, and this is what we give them. That’s the whole point! Additionally, by adding innovative technology such as LCD screens, cashless card readers, and automatic conveyor sensor systems, the machines’ “cool” factor is maximized in a big way.

Running out of time today! So check out the next blog post for Part II of this bloviation…

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Health & Nutrition, Healthy Vending Guidelines, Healthy Vending Machines, Healthy Vending Products, Philosophies & Beliefs, Vending Tips & Tricks Tagged With: childhood obesity, healthier food, healthy drinks, healthy food, healthy snacks, human healthy vending, school nutrition, School Vending machines, start a vending machine business, Successful vending, Vending Business, Vending Industry, vending machine, vending machines, vending machines in school, vending machines in schools

Nutrition Matters: Schools Revamp Vending Machine Programs

February 1, 2010 By John Pinto Leave a Comment

In most instances, people choose the easiest, cheapest, and closest things to eat. People are obsessed with fast options that give them a “quick fix.” What happened to that good ol’ home cooking? It seems to be a lost art.

The problem with these “quick fix” food/drink options is that they are usually unhealthy. An even bigger problem is that a large percentage of these fast and convenient options are being purchased from vending machines in schools. This sets the precedent at an early age for children to develop unhealthy eating habits. The federal and state governments are taking action to stop this trend.

Massachusetts is the most state to pass a school nutrition bill that requires public schools to serve healthier meals to students, and to overhaul vending options. A Massachusetts news articles reads, “The measure would ban candy and sodas from vending machines on school property and encourage the sale of non-fried fruits or vegetables, whole grains, nonfat and low-fat dairy products.”

What a coincidence! H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending will customize a machines planogram, or product mix, to meet any nutritional requirements put in place by state and local governments. With a product list of over 1,000 healthy snacks and drinks, H.U.M.A.N. has the necessary products to meet your specific dietary requirements. We can create a plan that is 100% Organic, SB-19 compliant, Gluten-Free, Allergen-Free, Low-Fat, Low-Carb, or No Sugar-Added!

According to the Chicago Tribune, President Obama has asked for an additional $1 billion in funding for school lunches. This is a valuable addition to the battle against childhood obesity. I suggest President Obama allocates a portion of this billion dollars to a healthy vending initiative! Most kids who bypass the cafeteria altogether and head straight to a vending machine end up with a bag of chips and a can of soda for their lunch meal. H.U.M.A.N. can and wants to help. Making school lunches healthier, will not help these rebellious students who spend their lunch money on honey-buns and a soft drinks from the vending machines. If we can’t change the kids, let’s change the food options! Surrounding these kids with healthy vending machines is a beneficial step in changing purchasing options at a young age. Why not buy a bag of Stacy’s Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips and Hansen’s Natural Soda instead of a Snickers bar and Cherry Coke?

Checkout a couple articles about school nutrition in:

The New York Times

Patriot Ledger

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Healthy Vending Products, Vending News, Vending Trends Tagged With: childhood obesity, healthier food, healthy drinks, healthy food, healthy snacks, HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, healthy vending machines, human healthy vending, new technologies, nutrition, school nutrition, School Vending machines, vending machine, vending machines, vending machines in school, vending machines in schools

How To CRUSH It In The Vending Industry…

January 29, 2010 By John Pinto Leave a Comment

Many people think the vending industry is simple. Simply stated, it’s not!

When looking at all facets of vending, the most valuable factor is finding the right location. Smoothly operating machines equipped with healthy snacks & drinks, in addition to great service, mean nothing without solid location placement.

Having constructive marketing materials and the perfect pitch are two important aspects of this placement process. Here at H.U.M.A.N., we have developed a location acquisition process that directs us to prime locations. We use a combination of direct mail, fax blasts, e-mail blasts, and telemarketing to narrow down a list of 1,000 locations to just 25 optimal healthy vending sites. Next, we have a H.U.M.A.N. team member, not a third party, travel to the placement site. This member explains to the location personnel the goals of our healthy vending program and why we have considerably more to offer when compared to a standard “junk food vending machine.”

So what comes next? After visiting a potential placement site, our team is sure to follow up. Our team is easy to contact and easy to talk to. Once a contract is signed, the new healthy vending machines are ready to be placed in their new home!

From a business aspect, sales may be worse, better, or equal to what was expected. Many vending operators and companies believe they can do very little to improve their machine sales. H.U.M.A.N. argues the opposite. Of course there are different marketing initiatives that can be done to improve sales at specific locations! A few of the H.U.M.A.N tactics are listed below:

1) Free Vending Dollars: We pass out vending coupons to customers at different locations, allowing them to purchase products for free. This gets consumers to use the machine, so the next time around they are more likely to make a purchase on their own.

2) On-Site Internal Marketing Campaigns: We conduct e-mail blasts, fax blasts, and hand out flyers on-site to make potential customers aware of there new healthy vending machine and what it has to offer.

3) Sampling Events: Typically, healthier brands are not as recognizable when compared to traditional junk food brands. Hosting on-site sampling events allows people to try these new-aged healthy products. Just 10 years ago, many healthy snacks tasted like cardboard, but now, with the advancements technology and product development, companies are sending products in the marketplace that are not only healthy for you, but also, taste amazing!

Filed Under: ADVICE & EDUCATION, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Vending Guidelines, Healthy Vending Machines, Philosophies & Beliefs, Vending News, Vending Tips & Tricks Tagged With: crush it report, entrepreneurship, HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, human healthy vending, new technologies, nutrition, small business, start a vending business, start a vending machine business, starting a business, Successful vending, Vending Business, vending machine, vending machines

Creating The Most Profitable Healthy Vending Program Ever Wasn’t Easy…

January 27, 2010 By John Pinto Leave a Comment

The Top 4 Blunders Sean Kelly, H.U.M.A.N. CEO, had to overcome before the business model was completely optimized…

Blunder #1: I didn’t REALLY know the ins and outs of the vending industry. I had no idea how opposed the industry is to progression, innovative technologies, and health promotion. In the beginning, I tried to work completely WITHIN the old-school good ol’ boys club that is the traditional vending industry. This simply caused me to waste months of time and thousands of dollars in a stagnant industry that didn’t want to budge.

Solution #1: I analyzed and improved upon our business from the progressive, innovative, and demanding perspective of a discerning, health-conscious customer, instead of a traditional vending operator. This means our machines attract customers, rather than being the last resort of a passer-by.

Blunder #2: I tried to have us operate all of our own machines. To maintain complete control of our operations and maximize profit, I thought it would be a good idea for us to operate machines across the country by ourselves, or more specifically, via people that we hired on an hourly basis. This wreaked-havoc on our supply chain, slowed-down expansion, and created logistical nightmares. We weren’t fully opening-up our arms to others, and this minimized, not maximized, profits.

Solution #2: I now share our expertise, experience, and innovation with open arms by having our partners operate all H.U.M.A.N. machines, while we help them by managing locations and advertising.

Blunder #3: I set-up 100% in-house product distribution. Another BIG time whammy! We stored and shipped-out every product order ourselves, focusing a great deal of effort on the wholesale side of our business. Even though this generated profit, it meant higher prices, slower delivery times, and less-the-optimal service for our vending operators. My focus was not where it should have been.

Solution #3: I refined our business model so that we now completely outsource our product distribution to 20 warehouses across the country, meaning w make zero profit from our product sales in order to ensure that our partner vending operators receive the lowest possible product prices with the fastest delivery time.

Blunder #4: I allowed partner vending operators to start-off with fewer that five machines. Talk about a bad decision for everyone! Almost always, operating a route of only 1, 2, or 3 vending machines requires too much time and hassle for the reciprocal amount of profit that is produced. My parnter vending operators could have been making more money in less time, but my planning was off-target.

Solution #4: I placed our partner vending operators’ profits as my top priority, and therefore, require operators to start-off with at least five healthy vending machines to maximize their “profit to time” ratio, experience immediate positive cash-flow, and set themselves up for long-term success.

= cash

Filed Under: ADVICE & EDUCATION, Company Happenings, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Vending Guidelines, Philosophies & Beliefs, VENDING INDUSTRY, Vending News, Vending Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Business Mistakes, entrepreneurship, HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, healthy vending machines, human healthy vending, new technologies, start a vending business, start a vending machine business, starting a business, Successful vending, Vending Business, Vending Industry, vending machine, vending machines

The Biggest Loser Needs Nutritious Snacks…Why Not Healthy Vending?

January 21, 2010 By John Pinto 1 Comment

It is a common misconception that snacking throughout the day is a “bad move” for your diet. While watching an episode of NBC’s The Biggest Loser this past season, many of the contestants reflected upon their success stories…dropping the pounds while keeping snacks in the picture. As long as snack choices are low in calories and portion size, nibbling between meals actually helps to prevent hunger strikes that may potentially damper your diet. It becomes an issue of what you snack on.

H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending anyone? Some of our healthy vending machine snacks include brands like…Robert’s Gourmet, Clif Bar, Lara Bar, Stacy’s, and Kay’s Natural. That’s only to name a few!! We have over 1,000 taste-tested healthy snacks in our product catalog!

I say we put a H.U.M.A.N. Machine in every living room across the country! This would reduce the obesity epidemic by at least 50%, people would become happy, healthy snackers, and maybe… The Biggest Loser TV series wouldn’t even exist!

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Healthy Vending Machines, Healthy Vending Products, Lifestyle Tagged With: Fat Americans, healthy food, healthy snacks, healthy vending machine, healthy vending machines, human healthy vending, nutrition, Obesity Epidemic, Successful vending, vending machine, vending machines

Traditional Vending Machine Operators Are Gross…

January 20, 2010 By John Pinto 1 Comment

Is it the unhealthy, outdated food that makes traditional vending machines gross? Or could it be that gross vending machine operators, lacking pizazz and professional flare are rubbing off on their products?

After traveling the United States, placing our new-age lineup of healthy vending machines…the verdict is in. It is a gross combination. Although some traditional operators are slowly implementing healthier products into their product mix, most consumers are stuck with the same unhealthy snacks that make them feel unsatisfied. In fact, these unhealthy products were said to make them feel gross. Huh, maybe thats why they described their machine operators as gross? Any thoughts? Of course, not all traditional vending operators are gross, but it’s hard for them to be viewed differently when the only products they sell make their customers feel that same way. Or maybe it’s because when they are filling the machines they look like this…

plumbers-crack1

Hahaha! A little far-fetched, but don’t lie to yourself — this is very real and is happening at vending machines across the country!

H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending can’t promise that its operators won’t show a little crack from time to time but we CAN promise our products are 100% healthy and will make you feel great after eating them, not gross! Our healthy vending machine snacks are taste-tested and approved by our team of health professionals. We ARE NOT gross! Actually, we are the exact opposite and that is why we are making the vending industry sexy!

Last time I checked, crack awareness week wasn’t for a few months!

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Healthy Vending Guidelines, Healthy Vending Products, Philosophies & Beliefs, Vending News Tagged With: HEALTHY VENDING, healthy vending machine, healthy vending machines, human healthy vending, vending machine, Vending Machine Operators, Vending Operators