The future of snack vending machines: Technology and trends to watch
As technology and consumer trends continue to change, it’s important to assess your current vending machine snacks, and whether they’re still meeting the needs of your workforce. Keeping up with these shifts will help you to ensure that you’re offering the best choices for your employees, and creating a positive, healthy working environment.
Let’s take a look at some of the drink and snack machine technology and trends you need to be aware of.
Healthy vending machine snacks
Health and wellbeing have become an increasingly important focus of our modern lives, with more vegans in the UK than ever before, and record numbers of gym members. It’s therefore important to understand and reflect these health-conscious choices in the workplace. Snack machines offer a quick, convenient solution, but treats such as crisps and chocolate can be detrimental to an individual’s health when consumed too frequently.
As well as helping to keep your employees happy and healthy, providing healthy snacks in the workplace has many benefits for your business. Offering easy access to nutritious options such as fresh fruit and cereal bars helps to boost employee energy, job satisfaction and retention. On top of this, the physical benefits of healthy snacking can reduce the number of sick days taken, leading to increased productivity.
Eco-friendly snack machine initiatives
According to research from employee benefits technology company Zest, 51% of employees want their employer to invest more in sustainability. This figure grows to 61% for workers aged 18-34, showing that it’s an increasingly important issue, and not just the latest trend.
Choosing eco-friendly drinks and vending machine snacks from sustainable brands using ethically sourced ingredients is a great way to show a commitment to the environment. Focus on drinks sold in fully recyclable materials such as glass and metal, and avoid single-use plastic where possible. Another step in the right direction is to replace old machines with modern, energy-efficient models, and to opt for smaller snack vending machines that require less cooling power.
Smart snack vending machines
Snack vending machines have moved away from frustratingly unreliable spiral mechanisms and temperamental coin slots. Instead, we’re seeing a new generation of sleek, modern machines equipped with product lifts, card readers, touch screens and real-time inventory tracking.
Depending on the model, modern snack machines are able to display individual product information, such as ingredients and nutritional information, and even detect vend issues. You can also choose smart fridges, which are able to detect what’s been removed, making the purchasing process as easy as tapping a payment card, opening the door and taking the desired products.
Contactless snack machine payment
As the UK continues to move towards becoming a cashless society, it’s important to cater to the preferences of your employees by providing snack vending machines that take contactless payment. These convenient options will encourage more vending machine snack sales, boosting productivity and increasing employees’ impressions of your company.
Along with contactless card payments, many smart vending machines support mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as NFC technology. This allows them to offer a more streamlined snacking experience that minimises downtime and helps to maintain a positive atmosphere in the workplace.
Equip your workplace with the latest technology in snack vending machines
Your Refreshments offers state-of-the-art snack vending machines to deliver streamlined and enjoyable snacking experiences. With a wide range of customisable machines, sustainable drinks options and healthy vending machine snacks, we’ve got everything you need to keep your employees happy and productive. Call us on 020 7082 5555 or email sales@yourrefreshments.co.uk and we’ll be happy to discuss the best snack vending machines for your workplace.
