Gillian White of 24 Vend, (pictured) flags the ‘Being Healthy’ Conference, taking place at The Imperial War Museum, Manchester,on 12 November
Below is the lovely amazing Apple Vending machine (c1930s); no more Steve Jobs than Isaac Newton but it serves a purpose for the next few minutes.
Health and Wellbeing
The subject of health and wellbeing is discussed at length every day online and in the real world; we want to focus on the world of opportunity that health and wellbeing present for vending. Vending has had its fair share of opposition over the years with bans and restrictions in various guises across many geographies. Vending trade associations have positioned vending as part of the solution and nothing changes there. Let’s be honest, vending machines are shops and they sell what sells. Nobody is made to purchase from a vending machine; they just stand their, minding their own business, doing what they do. The Apple machine below was doing that – just selling you apples.
“Well”, I hear you cry, “what’s your point?”
My point is that enabling consumer choice, supporting healthy lifestyles and following trends has to be at the core of any vending business. The vending industry hasn’t invested millions in making fantastic cappuccino just because it was fed up of sitting on the beach. The consumer wanted it and we responded. Great news and superb innovation. Extend that thinking to the choices available in a snack machine and perhaps we will start to see a broader range of products for sale? Sure, some may not like that affordable indulgences such as crisps (chips to my transatlantic friends), chocolate and cherry fizz will still be on sale, but small changes are probably a better way forward to encouraging people to make lifelong changes to their consumption patterns.
The vending industry hasn’t invested millions in making fantastic cappuccino just because it was fed up of sitting on the beach
Which brings us back to vending apples! 24vend is hosting a conference, Being Healthy, on 12th November at the amazing Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester, where we will hear from Vending Operators who are making “healthy” vending work, manufacturers offering new products for sampling and a Workplace expert on how vending fits into driving productivity. You really should be part of the conversation if you want to get with a trend that doesn’t look like it will be going away anytime soon.
With just 7 days to go before the conference in (#bhealth12), let me give you a (virtual) taste of the afternoon’s agenda. Food for thought for those in the vending industry who still need persuading that consumers want to eat a range of products, both naughty and nice. No oxymoron, indeed.
We were taken aback at Vending Paris a couple of weeks ago when an industry veteran told us that what we were talking about was “b*ll**ks” (I wont translate for any of my foreign friends – just assume the more polite and usual term of “rubbish”!) Well, my friends, red rags and bulls, red rags and bulls…
We’re not talking about throwing away everything we know and love in vending, we are only suggesting that by offering more choice and products, meeting new and different needs of your consumers, your business can benefit.
Take a look down the aisle at your nearest supermarket and there is definitely room for more, better for you, healthy, functional, different, unusual and tasty.
Perhaps, we know the consumers we have so well that it’s very easy to overlook those we don’t? The vending rejectors, the dieters, the foodies, the worried well… we could go on… you know the saying “familiarity breeds contempt”?
So, what we suggest is that you take only 2 hours from your day (shorter than a round of golf, we’re guessing) and join the conversation… find out how all of this brave new world can be healthy for your business…
‘Being Healthy’ presenters:
Tracey Graham – Abercrombie Vending (Scotland)
Sean Kelly – HUMAN Healthy Vending (USA)
Chris Carter – Selecta (UK)
Liz Morris – Working Families
Nathan Kulik – Innocent
See you in Manchester!
Gillian White
