What are healthy vending machines?
You’ve likely heard the term “healthy vending machines”. What does it really mean? Let’s walk through healthy vending options in more detail. Briefly, healthy vending machines refers to vending machines offering more nutritious snack and drink options for customers. Consumers everywhere are becoming more mindful about their health and well-being. So, offering healthier snack and drink options aligns with this trend.
Technically, any vending machine can offer healthy options. There is nothing stopping your vendor from supplying these types of products. If you already have a vending machine in place, ask how you can get healthier snack/drink options included with your service. Or call Simpl Snacks for more information.
Why healthy vending machines are gaining popularity
One reason why there has been more of a push to increase healthier snack/drink options in vending machines stems from the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA). This is a trade group organization that represents the convenience services industry (that includes vending machines).
In 2019, there were over 4 million vending machines in service across the US (wow!). However, most of the time customers encountered unhealthy snack and drink options. This is where NAMA stepped in. NAMA’s plan emphasized a greater focus on public health. NAMA’s goal was to see ‘better for you’ offerings to total at least 33% of vending machine stock by 2022. Looking ahead, we expect further updates from NAMA on the success of the initiative.
What Makes Snacks Healthy Enough For Healthy Vending Machines
NAMA developed the FitPick™ program to help vendors and customers identify products that meet specific nutrition standards. These food and drink options generally offer less fat and sugar compared to “traditional” foods/drinks. Especially for vending machines placed in schools – this is important. Using this system allows vendors to comply with USDA nutritional standards.
Conclusion: Healthier Options Are a Good Thing!
Simpl Snacks is not a NAMA member. But, we do try to meet the standards set forth by the group. Who wouldn’t want to give customers healthier options? It just makes sense. We typically stock at least 33% of our machines with healthy snack options unless there are requests for alternative or traditional items. Also, benefits of healthy vending machines go beyond just offering healthy snacks — there are other benefits like improved productivity.
Interested in some examples? Check out our post on healthy snacks under 200 calories for more information. Many vending machine businesses debate if offering healthy snacks can be good for business. In other words, do healthy snacks really sell?
In our experience, it depends on a few factors such as the location of the machine, customers using the machine and what specific snack options we offer. Veggie Straws remains a big seller at certain gyms — from speaking with some of our customers who focus on weightlifting and have specific diets they follow, this is a gluten free snack that is healthy and something they like to snack on. Yes, selling healthy snacks is a good business model and helps people stay healthy. That’s a win win!