Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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NATURAL SELECTIONS informed purchasing choices. So far the machines have been tested in New York and Chicago, and at the University of Nevada campus in its beta phase last year. The machines are scheduled to deploy to test markets this fall with a national rollout some time in 2013. VendScreen offers a device that helps consumers locate the healthier items in a machine. This tool's biggest appeal is that it can be retrofitted onto almost any standard vending machine, meaning even the old clunkers can get the 21st century upgrades. "The product mix in typical vend- ing machines has been changing over the years—with about one-third of it being healthier options," Patel notes. But people may not notice these changes, he adds. "Something that brings attention to a better choice will draw people to that better-for- you option." VendScreen provides consumers with full nutrition facts (like calorie counts) and helps select products that best suit their needs, all guided by a cheerful onscreen ava- tar named Jen. It also offers consumers dis- counted promotions, cashless payments and advertising. Manufacturers can even receive real-time data about how their items are selling. Patel says eventually VendScreen will provide a web portal for brand manu- facturers to manage their own inventory so they can become more connected to the end user's purchase choices. He hopes by year's end to have some 30,000 machines fitted with VendScreen. SINGLE-SERVING VENDING MACHINES P what nearly 200 other chocolate bars don't taste like The PB&J; Milk Chocolate Bar from Hammond's Candies took home the Most Innovative Product out of hundreds of entries at the Sweets & Snacks Expo. Come try it for yourself. 5735 n. washington st. denver, co 80216 303.333.5588 handmade in the usa ny international gift fair – booth #7480 hammondscandies.com repackaged snacks and sweets are standard vending machine fare, but some inventions are going above and beyond to show off the possibilities of automated dispensaries. Here are some actual working machines piquing consumer interest. Meat Machine. The Smart Butcher vends a variety of fresh meat like New York strip steak or ground beef. Located in a Lil Mart grocer in rural Odenville, Ala., the Smart Butcher acts as the market's meat counter. Customers can feed $1 or $5 bills into the machine or swipe a debit or credit card for a quick transaction. A 12-ounce rib-eye sells for $5.99. 24 Hour Cupcakes. Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills— with locations in New York, Texas, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and Arizona—has recently installed her second Cupcake ATM (pictured) in Chicago, thanks to the raving success of the original Beverly Hills location opened in March. The machine, located just outside Nelson's store on Walton St. dispenses freshly baked cupcakes throughout the day. Each cupcake costs $4. Three-Minute Pies. Pizza, that is. The Let's Pizza mini pizzeria vending machines use infrared rays to heat custom pies in less than three minutes. Developed at the University of Bologna in Italy, the machine offers four toppings: cheese and tomato, bacon, ham, and fresh veggies. A1 Concepts, Let's Pizza's distributor, plans to roll out the first U.S. machine in Atlanta sometime this winter, with prices reportedly around $5.95 per pizza. 44 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com