Magazine: Vending machines: past, present and future (Part 2)

Chicago company Modern Urban Woods installed very authentic and trendy, fruit and vegetable kiosk design vending machines in busy shopping centres. They are called Farmer’s Fridge and the company fills them up before 10 a.m. everyday with freshly picked vegetables. There is a German version of this concept, too: agrifood company Peter-und-Paul-Hof sell their products from Regiomat vending machines. People can buy fresh milk, eggs, butter, cheese and sausages from these machines in about a dozen cities 24 hours a day, on 365 days a year. Chilean company Algramo installed vending machines in small shops of poor quarters from which locals can buy basic food products (beans, flour, sugar) and detergent in small portions, put in recyclable plastic boxes. In France there are vending machines selling wine by volume. In certain supermarkets shoppers can fill up their own containers from the machines’ 500-litre or 1,000-litre tanks with wine at very low prices. What about the Horeca sector? A Beverly Hills confectionery that specialises in cupcake set up a vending machi-ne that looks like a regular ATM (only it is pink), it works around the clock, only accepts debit cards and is so popular that it sells 900-1,000 highquality cupcakes a day. (To be continued)