2011 June

A Day in the Life of a Healthy Vending Machines Operator

June 28, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Becoming a healthy vending machines operator is a simple and sure way to make money. The first few steps are the hardest, but there are tools out there to help you. Once you have your machines purchased and your locations picked, the rest is easy. Here is a basic run down of a day in the life of a healthy vending machines operator.

1. Checking Your Remote Monitoring System

Before you head out to service any machines, you should check your remote monitoring system to see the activity that has taken place in your vending machines. This program should give you a detailed break down of each machine you own with a list of all the products that are currently in the machine. Under each item listed, it will provide you with the number of items the section can hold and how many it has left. This will give you the up to date count of how many of each product you need to bring with you to reload the machine with.

2. Packing Up Your Products

After you have checked your system, you can pack up products accordingly in an organized fashion to make restocking easy. John Pinto, a HUMAN healthy vending machine operator, suggests putting beverages in one container and snacks in the other.

3. Restocking Your Products

Once you have arrived at your location and unlock your machine, you can take a look at your inventory and see what is out and what needs refilling. Then it is as simple as restocking each compartment. Depending on how well products are selling, it is wise to do tests and see if some products sell better than others in certain locations.

4. Refilling the Coin Dispenser

Then, make sure that your coin dispenser is full, in order to ensure that customers receive the correct amount of change.

5. Collecting Your Money

The last thing left to do is to collect your money from your vends. Be sure to do this in a safe and secure environment and then place your money is a safe place.

6. Locking Back Up

Once you lock your machine back up it will run a quick test to make sure everything is in place and ready to go! Simple as that!

Restocking a machine only takes about 15-30 minutes. With such a small commitment of time and effort and a good profit margin it seems like becoming a healthy vending machines operator is a wise business move.

Filed Under: Business, Healthy Vending Machines, Products

Grab Your Cup of Joe While you Work

June 26, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

In this video you will discover the benefits of having healthy vending coffee machines at work.

Filed Under: For Sale, Healthy Vending Machines, Products

Drinking the Calories You Just Burned at the Gym

June 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Forgive me while I rant a little.

I also came across this photo, which just made me laugh a little. I highly doubt that she drinks soda while working out and is in that kind of shape.

Filed Under: Healthy Vending Machines

Politics and Healthy Vending Machines?

June 18, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Politics and vending machines couldn’t be two more vastly different industries, but now thanks to California legislation the two are blending together into one big happy family . It is currently required by California law that 35% of products in vending machines on state property comply with state health standards. Just some of these standards include, but are not limited to:

No more than 35% of a products’ calories can come from total fat (not including nuts and seeds, which are a healthy fat).
Products can have no more than 10% of calories from saturated fat.
Beverages that are 100% fruit or veggie juice and contain no added sweeteners.
With the exception of water, beverages can be no more than 12 ounces.

A bill has been proposed to change that 35% to a total 100% of products that would have to follow these standards. Changing all vending machines on state property into healthy vending machines has cause quiet a stir in Sacramento.

Lobbyists have argued that requiring 100% of the products to be qualified healthy products is outrageous and “unworkable”. Their reasoning is that they wouldn’t be able to provide state employees with products that they want. Amongst those in opposition is The California Automatic Vendors Council. If the bill passes it will take effect in 2016.

If my understanding of California state property is correct, this bill would include public schools and government run office building. Judging by my past post about healthy vending machines in schools you can see that I am a pretty big advocate of this bill, or at least increasing the amount of healthy products in vending machines.

Filed Under: Healthy Vending Machines, Schools

The Benefits of Healthy Vending Machines – What’s In It For Me?

June 16, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

What is the point of eating healthy?

Why should I spend so much more time trying to find healthy options in healthy vending machines, especially when they cost so much more?

The benefits of healthy eating and snacking are endless. Here are the most important reasons why you should go out of your way to eat healthy.

Energy – When you fuel your body with the right things you have much more energy than you are used to. Heavy foods slow you down and make you feel sluggish. Try eating less dense foods with more natural ingredients in them and watch your energy level stay up throughout the day.
Antioxidants – A lot of healthy teas and even dark chocolates contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are nutrients that stop or slow down the natural process of oxidation that occurs in our bodies. They also help your immune health and have been thought to help lower your chances of cancers, diabetes, and heart disease.
Vitamins - If your mother is anything like mine she has been nagging you to take your vitamins since you could chew. As much as I hate to admit it, she was right about their importance. Vitamins help with your body’s daily functions and, just like antioxidants, they also help with oxidative damages. In addition to your daily vitamins, you can also get a lot of vitamins from foods and beverages. Vitamin water, if you couldn’t tell by the name, is loaded with vitamins and minerals and oranges contain a lot of Vitamin C.

These are just three of many health benefits of eating healthy foods and snacking from healthy vending machines. Try paying attention to what you are eating for the next few weeks and let me know if you feel a difference.

Filed Under: Healthy Vending Machines, Products

Traditional Vending Snacks vs. Healthy Vending Machines Snacks – Part Two

June 16, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Yesterday I took a look at the average nutritional values of traditional vending snacks. Today I want to show you how much of a difference it makes to opt for healthy vending machines snacks.

Healthy Vending Machines Snacks

We will still base it on the same 2,000 calorie per day diet and still keep in mind that this number obviously varies depending on your gender, age, weight, etc.

There are a lot of different options for chips in healthy vending machines. Stacy’s Pita Chips have only 5grams of fat per ounce. That is at least 50% less fat than a greasy, unhealthy bag of chips.
Chocolate bars in healthy vending machines are significantly better then traditional chocolate bars. Health Anytime’s Triple Chocolate Snack Bar are only 7 grams of fat and only 2 grams of saturated fats.
Craving something sweet? I know this might seem like a crazy idea, but instead of sugary candy, why don’t you try an apple or a banana. Fruit has natural sugar to cure your sweet tooth and it is good for you!

So, next time you make a trip to a vending machine, try the healthier option. I bet you will thank me.

Filed Under: Healthy Vending Machines, Products

Traditional Vending Snacks vs. Healthy Vending Machines Snacks – Part One

June 14, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

Snacking is not a bad thing if you snack right. I typically have three meals a day with two snacks. It is not uncommon that I forget to bring snacks with me throughout the day so I often rely on healthy vending machines snacks to satisfy my hunger.

I am sure I am not alone in my necessity for snacks, but there are plenty of people who opt for unhealthy, junk food options in traditional vending machines, instead of considering the nutritional difference of healthier and equally tasty snacks. That is why over the next two posts I am going to compare the two and tell you what nutritional values you should be looking at.

Traditional Vending Snacks

Based on a daily diet of 2,000 calories you should consumer an average of 50-60 grams of fat a day. This obviously depends on your gender, age, and lifestyle, but for the sake of argument, these are the numbers we will use.

Chips in a regular vending machine are considerably unhealthy. Most of us don’t realize it because they are in such a small bag, but they contain around 10-15 grams of fat, almost 20% of your daily fat intake!
Chocolate bars in a vending machine, such as snickers or twix, have about 300 calories in each and 15 grams of fat, 5 of which are saturated fats.
Sweet candy, such as skittles, are low in fats, but extremely high in other areas. They have 47 grams of sugars and 56 grams of carbohydrates.

While these options don’t see horrible at first glance they are definitely not good for just a snack. If you are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and eat better then stay tuned for part two of this post to read about the healthier choices you can find in healthy vending machines.

Filed Under: Healthy Vending Machines, Products

Top 5 Reasons to Invest in Healthy Vending Machines

June 12, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

Do you have some extra cash lying around? Want to figure out a way to invest it in something safer than the stock market? Well then, here are the top 5 reasons why you should invest in healthy vending machines.

5. Join a Growing and Booming Industry

Over the last few years, traditional vending machines have seen a decrease in profits. It seems as though the new trend is to invest in healthy vending machines. Sales of healthier snacks in general have been on the rise and society is beginning to make a shift towards eating healthier. With more and more schools banning sodas, candy, and other junk food there is no surprise that healthy vending machines are on the rise.\

4. Inform the Public about Nutritional and Healthier Choices

Vending machines are all about choices. You get to choose if you want chips, a drink, some type of bar, or something sweet. With healthy vending machines you can’t go wrong with any of the choices. Each product is carefully selected to ensure that they will provide nutritional information to their consumers. If your healthy vending machine has an LCD screen attached to it, you will be able to showcase different facts about the products to your customers to better inform them to make healthier decisions.

3. Help Fight Obesity and Malnutrition

As I have previously mentioned in my blog, obesity is a HUGE problem today. Providing healthier choices in vending machines, especially in schools, will help fight obesity early on. Hopefully, healthier snacking will lead to eating healthier in general. Also, some healthy vending machine companies even donate a percentage of their profits towards programs that help fight obesity and malnutrition in the United States.

2. Low Maintenance Business

Once you have your healthy vending machines you can just sit back and relax because they require very little maintenance. The main thing you will have to do is make sure that it is stocked with products and reorder products when necessary. The snacks will sell themselves.

And last but not least….

1. Make Money!

After your initial investment the hard part is over. After paying off the product costs and monthly expenses, the rest will be revenue. Consumers are willing to pay more for healthier options so be sure to set your price points slightly higher than traditional vending machine prices. If your healthy vending machines have a LCD screen for advertising you will be making money from that also.

What are you waiting for? Invest now!

Filed Under: Business

Drinks in Healthy Vending Machines

June 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

An addiction to soda is something that I have battled with for quite some time now. Whenever I am thirsty, the first thing I crave is a cold beverage with some flavor. Diet Coke used to be my go-to option until I started reading about all the chemicals and artificial sweeteners they use in soda and how bad they are for you. So I began exploring other options and trying different drinks in healthy vending machines.

So, if you ever find yourself in the same predicament as I do all the time, here are some wonderful thirst quenching options that not only taste great, but are HEALTHY!

Gatorade

Gatorade for years has been seen as the go-to sports drink. It helps fight dehydration and replenishes your body with sodium and potassium that you loose while working out. My only suggestion would be to be aware of the serving size. There are 4 servings in one bottle of Gatorade. So don’t let the label mislead you into thinking that there are only 14 grams of sugar in each bottle. My secret is to dilute the Gatorade with a little bit of water. That way it isn’t too sweet and you are still getting the nutritional benefits of the sports drink.

Vitamin Water

drinks in healthy vending machines 2

Vitamin Water is a relatively new flavored water on the market. They have a wide variety of flavors and each one comes with its own special attribute. My favorite is Vitamin Water Revive. This purple water has 100% of your daily dose of vitamin c, and 40% of vitamins b3, b5, b6, and b12. It also recharges your electrolytes the same way Gatorade does. There are so many different flavors with so many different benefits that you are always bound to find one you like.

Hansen’s

drinks in healthy vending machines 3

If you absolutely need a carbonated drink, then Hansen’s sodas are the way to go. Hansen’s Sodas are all-natural and contain no artificial colors or flavors. Their caloric and other nutritional values are not much better than regular soda, but the pure ingredients make a difference. Hansen also makes a product line of teas. These teas are full of antioxidants and contain no preservatives.

Well, there you have it! Three delicious and nutritious ways to satisfy your thirst!

Filed Under: Healthy Vending Machines, Products

Healthy Vending Machines in Schools Lead to Healthy Kids at Home

June 7, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

In most public areas you can find vending machines full of convenient snacks and beverages, but one thing you can’t find nearly as often are healthy vending machines in schools. As a child I was always active and busy. Whether it was figure skating practices, dance lessons, or school I was always out of the house and out of the run. This also meant I was always eating on the run and there definitely weren’t healthy vending machines in schools or anywhere for that matter.

It was hard to find healthy options, especially quick healthy options. There was a McDonalds at the ice rink and vending machines full of fattening chips and candy all around school. Healthy vending machines in schools are starting to pop up more often due to school districts creating programs to help fight childhood obesity.

Here are some statistics that will surprise you:

In the past 30 years, childhood obesity has increased by 300%
Between 16 and 33 percent of children and teens are obese.
Over 8 million children over the age of 6 are considered obese.
The United States is the country with the second most cases of childhood obesity.
Unhealthy weight gain causes over 300,000 deaths each year.
A child that is obese between the ages of 10 and 13 has an 80% chance of being obese as an adult.
Obesity costs society nearly $100 billion each year.

With statistics like these it is no wonder why there is an increase of healthy vending machines in schools. By picking healthy snack options, children will consume less calories and fat every day which will eventually help lead to lowering childhood obesity.