Back in the saddle!

Hi lovely vending people

Well, what can we say?  Procrastination is indeed the thief of time and since the flurry, excitement and overall thrill of AVEX 2013, we have been remiss!  However, we're back in the saddle with news, stories and opinions about the wacky world of vending.  So, where to start?

Mmm, healthy vending.  This one will, as they say, run and run.  You know we're passionate about being healthy, living well and doing all that in the context of vending.  As such, it's been great to be asked back to support the AVA as they run the second year of their collaboration with UCB final year BA Culinary Arts students.  Just a quick recap if you're new to this topic.

In 2012, the AVA took the bold step of challenging the final year students to create products that can be both sold through the vending channel and are "healthy".  Since there's no agreed definition (anywhere) on what is healthy, they interpreted that in a number of ways, delivering ground-breaking, innovative and great tasting foods for different vending locations.  Well, so successful was the activity, that we are again challenging the students.  This year, however, we have set a calorie challenge!  We have asked them to aim for 250 to 300KCal for the product; that's about as tight as the specification gets.

Lots of industry experts have been on hand in the first few weeks to initiate the "Year of 2014" to the arts and crafts of vending.  A real honour and privilege to work with young chefs of tomorrow.  This week, they presented their concepts to an expert group of which I was a part - fantastic fun!  Without giving the game away, here are some headlines for me:

6 groups will present 6 unique branded, lower calorie vending products.  Awaiting the judging panel will be products that combine:

• Sensory sensations 
• Visual interest 
• Appetising aromas
• Sweet and savoury products many of which are allergen friendly or "free from"
• Fresh innovative combinations of flavours and ingredients 
• A range of  textures 
• Exciting earth-friendly packaging
• Social, Digital and Mobile brands that will engage their demographic and location

You see, I really don't want to steal their thunder and, as they hunker down in the test kitchens for the remainder of this academic term, they need to be able to perfect and develop their products for the judging panel.  I know it's a bit cheeky as I've had a sneak preview but trust me, it will be worth tuning in early in 2014 when the final products, brands and results will be known.

Get in touch and let us know what you think

Great to be on the bike again!

The Friendly Vending Geeks, Gillian & Neil at 24vend

More from Belgium - Chocolate, not Brussels!

Hello!

A chilly start to the day here in the highest point on the railway main line from Southampton to London!  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as Jack Frost definitely nipped at the toes this morning.  So, enough of that lyrical waxing.  Chocolate!

Chocolate - 24vend is very open about our love for Chocolate and if you're a regular reader of our blog, you'll know that we have written regularly about this ancient and much-loved food stuff.  In fact, we are really hoping to see the Chocolate train in Brussels later this week.  Watch this space, as they say.

Chocolate - we were delighted to feature a really new and exciting, scientifically proven to be good for you, product at our recent "Being Healthy" conference.  For those who were busy vending elsewhere, here is some information from the fab team at "ohso" - may it whet your appetite and curiosity!

All of which goes to show that Belgium is famous for more than just Brussels!

Enjoy your day - the Friendly Vending Geeks!

  

PROBIOTIC CHOCOLATE BARS ENTER THE UK VENDING MARKET

ohso, the must-have healthy Belgian chocolate

 Ohso Chocolate, which is made from 53% delicious Belgian chocolate and is clinically proven* to be three times more effective at delivering your daily probiotics than a yoghurt drink, will be on sales in vending machines across the UK from next month.

Ohso will be the first probiotic chocolate to be available via vending machines in the UK and will be bought in packs of three available in both flavours, original and orange.

At just 72kcals per bar, ohso, the guilt free chocolate bar that loves your tummy, was launched to the UK market at the beginning of the year via Harvey Nichols Foodhalls. The product has seen rapid growth and has since gained listings in Tesco-owned Nutricentres and Ocado, as the shelves of many nationwide independent retailers.  

 “We are very excited to be entering the vending market”, says Andrew Marten, founder of ohso and director of Goodnesse, the company behind the brand. “Ohso is a perfect fit for vending machines. With no-added dairy, gluten and wheat and nut free, it’s a great healthy chocolate alternative. Each individually wrapped bar is designed to provide consumers with the optimum daily amount of probiotic to help support their digestive health, restoring the bacterial flora of good bacteria in the gut to help improve immunity and overall health and wellbeing.” 

ohso is also available to buy online at www.ohsolovesyourtummy.com

Note (and all the technical scientific stuff you require)

Recent figures show Britons have an insatiable appetite for ‘functional foods’ which have health benefits beyond basic nutrition and annual sales of such products are set to hit £915m by 2015 according to Mintel.

*Based on the survival rates of probiotics passing through the stomach to the small intestine, it was found that the survival rates in the probiotic yoghurt matrix were three times lower than in chocolate.  Source: Ghent University, Belgium

In praise of Chocolate

Hello everyone

Another week and for all our American friends, it’s a short but busy one.  First celebrated in 1621 as an autumn harvest celebration, it wasn’t until 1863 (in the midst of civil war) that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a set Thursday in November be celebrated as Thanksgiving Day.  Enjoy!

After that dose of history, let’s return to today’s topic; chocolate.  Even older than Thanksgiving, we have a great deal to thank the Aztecs for; Emperor Montezuma is long associated with this amazing product that stands the test of time and enjoys frequent innovation and reinvention.   So, in praise of chocolate, let’s start this chilly wintry week!

Some of you reading this may scratch your heads and take us aside to say, “we thought 24vend were all about health and stuff like that?”.  Indeed, you are absolutely right, but that doesn’t mean we can’t love chocolate.  The desire to be well, healthy and nutritionally positive does not negate the occasional indulgent decadence of polyphenol and flavenol rich chocolate.

Our stance is one of choice, education and responsibility (Corporate or Personal).  If we educate, inform and provide consumers with the knowledge that enables them to make good choices from the wide range of products available, then it is down to them to make a responsible decision about what they really need to consume.   I, for one, do not desire to live in a world where I’m told what to consume; we should rise to the level of responsible sellers, rather than run the risk of dumbed-down do-as-you’re-told decision-making through onerous regulation. 

No, it’s not simple, but if it were, life would be dull.  I would rather be challenged every day to be curious, learn and develop than settle for a world of monochromatic predictability.

So, can chocolate and health rub shoulders in a healthy lifestyle?  Absolutely, yes!  In the last few days, there have been a number of articles in praise of chocolate and you can read some of them here, and here!  

Nobody every said you should live on chocolate, and nobody actually makes you buy it; of course it’s marketed and advertised; if you buy into a world of consumerism (last time we looked!), then that’s business.   But, if the pre-frontal cortex drives you to a few moments of chocolate heaven, praise be!

Enjoy your week, good people of the Vending Village

Gillian and Neil

The Friendly Vending Geeks @ 24vend

The times, they are a changin'

Hello!

The times they certainly are "a changin'" and not just as Bob Dylan predicted.  Health is now making headways in the vending vernacular and that's  a good thing, isn't it?

If you haven't already booked your place for Monday's Being Healthy conference in Manchester, there is still time.  You have to be in it to win it and we're a friendly bunch, so why not?  Not curious enough to be part of the conversation?  Too set in your ways to think that you might learn something - tut, tut!  Never too old and never too curious!

It was really great to hear about Gem Vending using QR codes to provide nutritional information to vending consumers - top marks to them for embracing both technology and the consumer.  Nice work!  If you haven't read all about it, head over to Planet Vending and get yourselves in the know

Of course, you'll be very welcome on the day if your plans change!

Get in touch if you want to know how we can help you jog along the journey of health; at least one of us is a REPs qualified fitness instructor so we can grow your vending business and get you fit on the inside at the same time.  Not many in the vending industry that can toot that particular trumpet!!

Any road up!  See you next week at Being Healthy or Vendex

The times, they are a changin'

The Friendly Vending Geeks
Gillian & Neil
24vend

And now for something completely different!

Good morning all

Welcome to our all readers!  After all our talk of health and wellbeing, it seems fitting that we tell you what other products and services 24vend can offer.   Something completely different that we think you’ll like!

Our heartland is, you may be surprised to read, in all things technical.  Whilst we have a passionate interest in all things human, we love gadgets, gizmos and techy-geeky stuff.  We use that term in the most self-deprecating of manners; because we can!

24vend is today with a handful of other technical experts working with the EVA on all things Cashless.  Cash, in its broadest sense, will always be King, but we reckon that Cashless is actually Queen!  The Joker sits smirking as he just wants paying for his mendacity and the Ace? Those who embrace all forms of payment.

We’re proud to be members of both AVA and EVA and whole-heartedly support the development of our industry to be not just good but great!  Whilst beyond the point where it’s OK to be “down with the kids”, we do have a pretty clever mobile phone payment system that is super simple, super clever and well, super!  You might want to talk to us about this if you have any interest in being social, digital and mobile (to coin a phrase).

In the words of Fat Boy Slim, “We've come a long long way together, Through the hard times and the good. I have to celebrate you baby , I have to praise you like I should”  As the coin said to the mobile wallet!

Why not join us on your journey to cash and cashless?  Everything to gain and nothing to lose!  We’re but a (mobile) phone call away.

Get in touch

The Friendly Vending Geeks

Gillian and Neil

Healthy Vending; No Oxymoron!

Healthy Vending; No Oxymoron

With just 7 days to go before the BeingHealthy conference in Manchester (#bhealth12), we wanted to 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…

Our Amazing presenters; 

Tracey Graham - Abercromby Vending (Scotland)

Sean Kelly - HUMAN Healthy Vending (USA)

Chris Carter - Selecta (UK)

Liz Morris – Working Families

Nathan Kulik – Innocent

Be tempted – Being Healthy on 12^th November at Imperial War Museum, North, Manchester

See you next week!

Gillian & Neil, the friendly vending geeks

24vend