Tag: healthy vending

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Vending Products for Each Generation

Finding a location and purchasing a vending machine is only part of building a successful vending business. It is also crucial that you choose the right snacks to go into your vending equipment based on your location’s demographic in order to ensure your business is as successful as it can be. Follow along as we break down the most popular vending products of each generation.

Generation Z

If you think Gen Zers are going to consume copious amounts of pop products, think again. While this generation does enjoy a beverage that gives them energy, they are more likely to consume coffee products, as opposed to popular pop products that we have seen previously. Additionally, this generation often turns to smoothies and sports drinks. As winthruster Gen Zers begin entering college, these are the types of products they will be looking for on college campuses.

If your location is mainly comprised of Generation Z, we recommend installing the Coffee Vending Machine. It provides customers with gourmet coffee and hot beverage options with coffee shop quality. 

Millennials

When it comes to filling your vending machine at a location that is highly populated by Millennials, such as an apartment building or some offices, consider what is going on around you. According to a study, Millennials are influenced by the opinion of others. If there is a snack or beverage that is circling the web, chances are, Millennials are dying to get their hands on it. Another great option is to fill your vending machine with healthy snack and beverage products.

Instead of having two separate vending machines with one filled with snacks and one filled with drinks for Millennials, we recommend installing our most popular machine, the Express Combo Vending Machine. Millennials will be able to purchase their favorite healthy snacks and beverages, all from one vending machine.

Baby Boomers

When it comes to appealing to the older generation, such as Baby Boomers, it is important to note that their palettes are not the same as a Gen Z or a Millennial. In fact, many Boomers are searching for snacks that are low in sodium and high in protein. Additionally, while Gen Zers are turning to coffee, Baby Boomers are in search of a beverage with little to no caffeine. 

For locations with a high population of Baby Boomers, we recommend installing one of our newest vending machines, the MarketOne Snack 6W. With up to 71 selections, customers will love the variety of low-sodium, high-protein snacks and food products that this machine has to offer.

When building your vending business, consider the demographic that your vending machine will be placed in order to fill your machine with the correct products. For more information, contact Vending.com at 1-800-548-1982.

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Vending Machines for Any Business: Fitness Vending Machines

Vending.com offers more than simply snack, beverage and combo vending machines. Additionally, we offer three types of fitness vending machines: the Fitness and Health Vendor with Locker Add-On, the Trimline II Fitness Refreshment Center and the MarketOne Fitness Refreshment Center.

As with all fitness vending machines from Vending.com, the Fitness and Health Vendor with Locker Add-On is a great solution to add profitability to your business’ bottom line. Not only does it provide healthy snacks and beverages to your fitness members, but the add-on locker has an added capability to feature large and bulky merchandise, such as workout gear.

For a smaller fitness vending machine solution, your gym may benefit from the Trimline II Fitness Refreshment Center. Members have easy access to their favorite pre and post-workout snacks. This is a great replacement for gyms that have concessions or behind-the-counter snacks and beverages.

Finally, the MarketOne Fitness Refreshment Center is a larger and updated machine, when compared to the Trimline II Fitness Refreshment Center. It is configurable to meet your fitness centers’ merchandising needs. Its movable barrier tray allows you to adjust the temperature zones with a 20-degree variance in zones, allowing you to provide customers with a wide variety of products. Additionally, a locker can be added on for additional capacity and larger merchandise.

Whatever type of business you have, you can benefit from adding a vending machine, whether it be snack, beverage or retail. For more information, give us a call at 1-800-548-1982.

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Healthy Vending for Your Customers

No matter where your vending equipment is placed, it is essential that you keep your customers, satisfied and healthy. Thanks to the National Automatic Merchandising Association’s (NAMA) commitment to a healthier lifestyle, vending machines nationwide will be increasing their healthy food options from 24% to 33% over the next three years. 

In order for a snack to be considered “healthy,” they must abide by the following standards per serving: 

  • No more than 200 calories
  • No more than 240 milligrams of sodium
  • No more than 1 gram of saturated fat
  • No more than 0 grams of trans fat

To ensure you are providing customers with the absolute best snacks to keep them healthy, we have compiled a list to help get you started.

Popcorn

As a natural, whole grain food, popcorn is a great, healthy snack that your customers will love. It contains fiber, magnesium and iron, just to name a few nutrients. Having a high-fiber diet can lead to weight loss, increased heart health and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. In order for your customers to fully take advantage of these health benefits, it is best to provide them with plain popcorn that is free of any chemicals. 

Granola Bars

Granola bars are a healthy and delicious snack that is filled with protein, fiber and micronutrients to keep your customers fueled throughout the day. Granola bars reduce the risk of overeating, as they come in pre-portioned packages. Additionally, they have been found to reduce cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease. In order to ensure you are providing healthy products, find granola bars that are less than 250 calories, and have less than 10 grams of sugar.

Plant-Based Protein

Protein is an essential part of one’s diet. Protein is used to build and repair tissues. It is also the building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and blood. In order to give your customers, especially your vegetarian and vegan customers, the protein they need, consider adding plant-based protein into your machines. Some examples of this include Greek yogurt, almonds and peanut butter.

All of these products can be provided within our wide range of snack machines, including our MarketOne Vending Machines. Our fully adjustable trays allow you to provide small snacks, such as granola bars, or bulky snacks, such as Greek yogurt. Plus, with a 10.1” touchscreen display, your customers can have immediate access to nutritional facts, prior to purchasing snacks.

Healthy eating does not have to be boring. Change up the products you supply your customers with delicious and healthy products to promote a healthier lifestyle. For more information, give us a call at 1-800-548-1982.

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Keeping Your Heart Healthy

February is a month in which we celebrate love, but it is also American Heart Month. Although we should be doing it throughout the year, it is a great reminder that we do need to be heart-healthy and mindful of what we are putting into our bodies. As a vendor, you should be mindful of what products you are making available in your vending machine. 

In order to cater to consumers, you should be providing a variety of healthy and unhealthy products in your vending machine. Yes, that means if you have a machine filled with sweets, you may want to restructure in order to provide healthier snack products, such as hummus and granola bars. Providing a variety of products ensures that you are not only reaching more consumers, but it also means that you are promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Of course, just because something is consumed by drinking it instead of eating it, does not mean that it is any less unhealthy. That is why you should also make healthy beverages easily accessible for your consumers, if you have a drink or combo machine. Healthy drink options include water, seltzer water and flavored unsweetened water. 

In order for snacks and drinks to be considered “heart-healthy” by the American Heart Association, snacks should have no more than 200 caolories per serving. It should also have no more than 240 milligrams of sodium, no more than 1 gram of saturated fat and no more than 0 grams of trans fat per serving.

With Vending.com, we have optional features to make displaying nutritional information easily accessible for the consumers. Consumers will have the ability to browse all product information, including all nutritional information. 

Not all of your customers will want to indulge in healthy snacks or drinks, which is why it is important to have a variety of healthy and healthy snacks and beverages in your vending machine. Click here to learn more about vending machines for a healthier lifestyle or give us a call at 855-929-1085.

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Healthy Vending Options Brought to Schools

healthy vending optionsAs the Shelby County School (SCS) board prepares to vote on whether or not to bring vending machines into their schools, parents and students have mixed feelings; and for good reason.  Vending machines have traditionally been stocked with candy, chips, soda, and other junk foods high in fat, sugar, and carbs.

However, if the proposal is approved, the SCS plans to stock their vending machines with healthy choices for not just snacks, but for breakfast and lunch as well, something that is catching on across the country. The vending machines would be stocked daily by the school’s special education students. This means that while the food is guaranteed fresh, those students who stock the machines are learning job skills as well.

So why the idea of having a school vending machine in the first place?  According to Kevin Woods, a Shelby School board member,  “This is not to eliminate any possible positions, it’s just simply to allow more people to get through the process quicker and to have more options without having to wait in long lines”.

If the proposal goes through, the vending machines would be tested in White Station, Whitehaven, and Wood Dale schools by offering free lunches.  This could also ease the minds of some parents and students who are less than enthusiastic about getting school lunch from a vending machine.

However, some vending machine companies, such as Healthier Vending, do in fact offer healthy school breakfast, lunch, and snack programs that not only encourage healthier choices, but also encourage academic achievement all while meeting any school’s nutritional requirements.

For example, Iowa started the Healthy Kids Act to help eliminate childhood obesity by offering healthy vending machine in their elementary, middle and high schools. Drink vending machines, for example, offer nonfat and low fat milk, vegetable juice, and 100 percent fruit juice inside of sugary juices and https://www.vending.com/affiliates/healthier-vending/ sodas.

Although it is not known for sure exactly what items would go in the vending machine if they were approved, some of the more popular items we now see in snack vending machines throughout the country are healthy granola bars and Cliff bars as well as yogurt.  Healthy drink vending machines also see the V8 brand vegetable and fruit juices as well as water.  For lunch, options may include a fresh salad, freshly made sandwich, soup, and a variety of fruit.  For breakfast, options may include cereal, breakfast sandwiches and also a variety of fresh fruit.

While school vending machines may be something both parents and students will need to get use to, the fact remains that they save time, money, and in the end, offer more options and healthier choices. Vending machines have become the future’s alternative to the traditional school lunch line.

Schools are getting rid of the lunch line in favor of healthy vending machines.

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Companies Who Make Employee Health a Priority Show Enormous ROI

Healthy-Vending-MachineFor many people who wish to live healthier lifestyles, one of the biggest obstacles has always been the workplace. Depending on how busy your days are, you may not necessarily have time to run to the nearest healthy source of food during your lunch hour. Fast food, which is among the least healthiest food possible, may be the best option. Worse yet, even companies that have traditionally said that they encourage healthy activities in their employees usually stock vending machines filled with high calorie, low quality items for those workers to consume. The snack vending machine has long been the bane of existence to everyone who just wants to watch what they eat and lose a little weight while on the job.

That is, until now. Research has indicated that companies that make an active effort to make employee health a priority are showing an enormous return on investment when these types of programs are initiated in conjunction with a Healthy Vending Machine.

Vending machines in general are notorious for dispensing foods that are high in trans fats, filled to the brim with synthetic ingredients and include other unhealthy qualities that make it difficult to eat right while at work. Many vending machine manufacturers have started offering nutritious alternatives that are designed only to vend low fat, low carbohydrate and low sugar products. These are not limited to snacks – these can include drinks and even full meals depending on the specifics of the program in question.

The return on investment that companies are seeing for making employee health a priority falls into a few different categories depending on the situation. The most obvious is that employer health insurance premiums are directly related to the health of their workers. If your employees are only making poor food decisions all day, premiums will eventually go up as a result. Studies have indicated that not only are these premiums not going up, but they’re actually being lowered in many cases. Many employers have created employee-driven health groups designed to manage these initiatives in the workplace.

Additionally, the vending machines themselves are becoming a viable source of income for many businesses. Employees who are already trying to live health conscious lifestyles are enthusiastically using these types of machines at a higher frequency than ever.

One great example of this type of program in action is Vending.com’s Healthy Vending program. Vending.com is a vending machine manufacturer that has been in operation since 1931. In addition to selling specially designed vending machines that dispense food, snacks, coffee and everything in between, they are also doing their part to promote healthy eating in the workplace by way of the Healthy Vending program.

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Back To School | Healthy Vending Options

snack machinesToday’s student in the U.S. is used to choosing from a variety of options. From classes, to friends, to after school activities, variety is the spice of life in middle and high schools. This may be a key reason that the vending machine has been such a successful tool for satisfying hunger cravings for our nation’s kids. Beyond its function as a nutritional vehicle for keeping kids alert and energized, it is also a significant revenue builder for the nation’s schools.

This fall a federal law will require school vending machines to forgo the candy and sweet treats in favor of healthier food options. Some school administrators worry about the financial impact. Many have been grappling with the decline in revenue since regular sodas have been replaced with diet and sugar-free versions. Fortunately, along with Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative to fight against childhood obesity, the nation has been trending toward a more sophisticated approach to eating with health and flavor in mind.

The vending machine is now at the center of the debate in school-based nutrition. Some commercial vending companies today, such as Vending.com, support healthier vending products. From Vitamin Water and spring water instead of soda, to baked potato chips instead of the oilier counterparts and dried fruit in place of baked goods and other sweet tooth snacks, Vending.com knows how to satisfy a kid’s need for variety within the limits of federal regulations successfully. Yogurt and energy bars are other nutrient dense snack food alternatives to sweet and unhealthy foods that kids choose and parents can rest easy about.

The new, healthier products, coupled with technology, gives students an exciting and fun way to meet energy needs throughout the day, and to have fun while doing it.

A Vending.com representative can advise you about the user-friendly healthy snack options and a vending machine for sale that offers benefits, such as:

  • filling a vending machine that still entices the kids to buy products
  • meet guidelines
  • give you a return on investment that makes sense
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Healthy Vending: A Trend to Be Happy About

Here at Vending.com, we work closely with our trusted affiliates who are as dedicated to providing our clients with the best drink and snack vending machines as we are. One of our many proud partners is Healthier Vending, who specialize in providing schools with health-conscious vending machines.

While the average school vending machine is likely stocked with sugary colas, greasy chips, and fattening chocolates, Healthier Vending’s machines are specially designed to promote a healthy lifestyle while still carrying plenty of tasty treats. Some of the featured products in a Healthier Vending snack vending machine include Baked! Lays, Nature Valley bars, Rold Gold pretzels, and V8 juices. Who said healthy snacking had to be tasteless and boring? According to a recent testimonial from a Healthier Vending client, a specialized healthy vending machine made over $1,200 in its first few weeks, proving that there is still plenty of profitability once you take junk food out of the equation.

Recent news stories reveal that cities are cracking down on the caloric content of their vending machines in an effort to encourage healthy habits. Providing  healthy food products is more important than ever and the vending machines for sale from both Vending.com and our affiliates make it easy and affordable to help your customers cut down the calories.