Unwrapped: A Food Service Podcast

The Five Most Underutilized Technologies in Vending

The vending machine industry, like most industries, has been hard hit by the pandemic. Vending machines are located in crowded public spaces. Without these places having any traffic, there has been low patronage. But, as vending machine companies come out of the pandemic, they're looking for ways to grow their business.

What’s Driving the Industry Forward as the Nightclub and Bar Show Returns?

On this episode of Unwrapped: A Foodservice Podcast, brought to you by SandenVendo, host Daniel Litwin talked with Mike Weisser, President & CEO, Joey Lavook, VP of Sales & Marketing and Brad Hutchison, Senior Business Development Manager.

Should Vending Operators Buy or Rent Machines?

SandenVendo America President and CEO Mike Weisser said the industry is full of people who will help out those in need of a little advice or clarification on a challenge they’re facing, be it on the technology side or elsewhere. “Let’s not forget the fellow vending operator as a resource,” Weisser said. “There’s not a lot of competitors within the vending operator market, and it really is like a family. Everyone is excited about the success of fellow vending operators. It’s a great resource.”

Glass Front Vending Solutions Take Center Stage

Mike Weisser [https://marketscale.com/industries/contributors/mike-weisser/], President and CEO of SandenVendo America [http://www.vendoco.com/], understands the GFV-9 front-loading vendor's importance as a mainstay in the foodservice industry. Since the inception of the glass front vending machine in 1972, technology continues to innovate and change the way people interact with self-service food and beverage devices. SandenVendo’s GFV-9, likewise, carries on this tradition of advancement, innovation and change to stay relevant to today’s consumer needs. Weisser unwrapped the GFV-9 for a more in-depth look. “Many different driving forces changed the landscape of cold-drink beverage vending over the years,” Weisser said. “It's consumer trends that shape what the vending machine is going to be, or what it is going to do, or how it is going to interact with the consumer.” So, if consumers drive where the vending machine industry is going, what are the recent changes fueling today's vending machines? “Over the last decade, we’ve seen a tremendous shift to healthier products, healthier beverages and a wider variety of products,” Weisser said. If front glassing vending machines are the product showcase, how important is the product packaging, and does this importance play a role in vending design?

The Need For Touchless Vending Goes From Future To Present During COVID-19

Touchless technology for vending machines isn’t new, but it’s possible you’ll be seeing it for the first time soon at a vending machine near you. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to think about surfaces that needed to be frequently cleaned. Vending machines can be those surfaces, but as Vagabond CMO Juan Jorquera noted, there is an easy solution that has been around for some time: Going touchless. “The technology is available, and it has been available and compatible with 80%-90% of the machines already out in the field, “Jorquera said. “Partnering with SandenVendo makes that scalability and that deployment even easier because they do have hundreds of thousands of machines out there already, and we’re able to tackle the right machine in partnership with the operators, with the accounts that know they need touchless.” With the pandemic and its quarantine orders also sending vending machine sales plummeting, the demand for new machines hasn’t been high. But Mike Weisser, President & CEO of SandenVendo, says the good news for operators of the 4.3 million vending machines in operation in the United States is that it’s easy to retrofit existing machines. “The overwhelming majority are capable of having this technology upgraded onto those units,” Weisser said. “So, once we consider not just new production units, but the ability to deploy on existing units, we have a little bit clearer image of the scalability of touchless throughout our markets.” American consumers may not be ready for machines like those in China with facial recognition, but paying with their phone and picking the product up from a drawer may be exactly what they need to feel comfortable returning to their previous habits when getting a snack or a drink.