Interactive touch screen vending machines

Image via Wikipedia

Its been a little too long since the last post (sorry!), but there's been a lot of activity behind the scenes building our first batch of machines, and plenty of work to keep us all busy. More on that soon, but this article today on Springwise reminded me that the developments in the vending world are still largely limited to gimmicky changes to the look and feel of the machines.
Interactive, touch screens have been built in to provide a "whole new level of consumer interaction to automatic vending" - and there was I thinking I only wanted to buy a can of coke, be able to use a note or my debit card to pay, and at the very least least not have my change snaffled!
The article mentions that time has been spent building in cameras and equipment to track vandalism, rather than to attempt to make the buyer's experience more beneficial! (unsatisfactory vends are often the cause of frustration, leading to malicious damage).

We make the SEEDA news

The government backed South East Enterprise Hub recently interviewed us to publish a news article about our successful application for (and winning) of the commercialisation funding.

They have provided good ancilliary support in addition to the funding award and I am continuing to work with them on future articles and news releases.

First sites agreed!

We've done it!

Today we signed up the first confirmed site - a really high profile and relevant site, too - William Reed business media in Gatwick, publishers of The Grocer amongst other industry topics - and we are very chuffed!

It looks like we shall also have a second site confirmed very shortly, another really high profile name that will add further credibility to our offering.

And we've got another few who are very keen to take things further, so we shall be carring out site surveys and checks to see if they are suitable locations to make a success for us and the client.

In all, we now have locations for around 6 machines pretty much signed up, and increasing interest for other locations, but note, we were only looking to launch with 10-15 machines for our pilot phase to complete our final proof of concept testing!

At William Reed we met today with Chris to plan out an appropriate launch strategy with them and we will be doing something along thse lines:
> internal awareness raising
> survey to staff
> Menu distribution
> external PR
> taste test to all staff
> banner promoting "machine coming!"
> installation
> ongoing feedback

Its all going in the right direction - and we got a good mention in the South East Business publication today, too.

Look out for a Go4Fresh machine in a location near you soon!

Snacking trends research

This research paper from the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association provides further compelling insight into consumer demand for fresh, healthy food. This research revealed which snacks are selected, when and where they are eaten, and how those choices are made by the consumer.

Key findings from this paper that point to our Go4Fresh healthy food retailing opportunity being an ideal platform to deliver what the consumer wants include:

A healthy demand: Healthier snacks are in high demand as consumers today are very interested in products lower in fat, trans fats, and calories.
(With our machines, the consumer can choose their snack on calorific, fat or ingredient content)

Snacks take on new meaning: Having broadened their view of snacks beyond such items as chips, cookies, and crackers, consumers today are more likely to consider any small portion of food as a potential snacking candidate. Retailers, however, have not caught up to this new consumer thinking (while only 20% of consumers today define snacks traditionally, 40% of retailers still do so). This perceptual gap separating retailers and their customers is alarming — an indication that, as a group, retailers do not fully recognize their competition within the snack market.

Convenience is king: Busier lifestyles have led to an increased demand for convenient snacks — those that are easy to access, easy to prepare, easy to eat, and easy to clean up.
(You cant get much easier than healthy food provided in your workplace, with biodegradable packaging, too)

Eating several small meals a day: One of the greatest opportunities for the snack market — and one that directly addresses the health concerns that have triggered a decline in consumption — is to position snacks as part of a healthy diet of eating several small meals a day.
(With our machine, the retailer can cost-effectively and safely vend healthy foods, anytime)

The Perfect Snack: Consumers define the ideal snack as one that is healthy, tastes sinful, and is convenient in all aspects. This "holy grail" definition of snacks, though perhaps difficult to produce against, is insightful because it is constructed directly from consumer testimony. In other words, consumers know what they want and are very clear in expressing it. The question is, which companies will be able to meet this demand most effectively?
(And how are they going to vend it without the Go4Fresh system?!)

Compelling stuff, eh!?

Food Safety Week - starts June 9th!

Promoted and supported by the Food Standards Agency, next week is Food Safety Week.

How good of them to coincide it with our official launch this Friday!

Listen up, food brands!

As this News story from Brand Channel reveals, pressure from consumers demanding fresh and healthy food, rather than food packaged as simply "good for you" is on the increase, and the big food brands are starting to address the challenge; of resistance through purely delivering a branded product.

Consumers want more - they want assurance that the food they buy is genuinely, reliably healthy and good for them. No confusion, no hidden ingredients, just facts.

Not that Ian (Our founder and technical whizz) has been saying anything different since he started the Go4Fresh development project! That's why our machines are not only stocked with only top quality fresh food (obviously!) but they also display the nutritional content and even calorific values of every product on the selection screen - we know consumers have a choice and, more importantly, an increasing voice.

What's your take? Would you choose to buy fresh, healthy, BRANDED food over an unbranded offering, or has your trust in the major brands weakened?

(photo credit> bingbing)

Food Makers turn to healthy food

At Go4Fresh we are obviously keen on healthy food initiatives, so it is interesting and encouraging to see this post in Reuters today. (thanks @MikeAshworth for the pointer!).

Although the aims of these major brands in this instance appears to be to bolster food prices in a pressured economic situation through delivering percieved extra value, the underlying stats make interesting reading and it all adds further weight to our findings for a demand for healthier food AND for a means of delivering it.

The bottom line from the report is that consumers will generally pay more for a better quality product when times are tough.

To quote the report - “The emergence of so-called health and wellness foods with lower fat, sugar and salt are aimed at keeping consumers buying premium brands even amid the escalating credit crisis, high fuel prices and housing meltdown.”

Some major brands are quoted in the Reuters report and indicate:

• Kraft Foods reported that its “better for you” foods are growing two to three times faster than its other food lines. According to Kraft North America President Rick Searer: “Health and wellness is a priority.”
• In the U.K. Unilever indicated that it has been “cutting out fats, sugars and salt from foods as a way to bolster its health and wellness lines”. Bauke Rower, Senior VP of Foods for the Americas says “The long-term trend towards better food and people looking after themselves is here to stay.”
• France’s Danone cited that the health benefits of its recent introductions of two probiotic products with live bacteria should mean “strong revenue growth.” Even with two price hikes since last August, Danone Chief Executive Juan Carlos Dalto: “We are very optimistic we will see nice double-digit growth in the years ahead in North America.” Even though these two products cost 10-30% more than other yogurts.

I welcome your feedback on this:
> Do you look at pricing first when considering a healthy option?
> Do you think this is just brands seeking to exploit a new opportunity, or are they fulfilling a need?
> What pressures are on you to choose the "healthy option"?
> What constitutes a healthy option to you and where does "freshness" come into consideration, if at all?

Business Matters Startup Stars PR competition

A couple of weeks ago we got wind of a competition run by Business Matters (a local business publication run by Crawley Observer) called "Start-up Stars" - for a years free publicity to promote the winning start-up business.

We (Ian Rowling - MD, the inventor and developer of the technology and expertise behind Go4Fresh, and myself; Nick Broom - the external face for the company, responsible for strategy and brand) duly entered and were invited to a "Dragon's Den" style interview last week for the final 6 selected entrants.

Phew!! We had 5 minutes to present and describe the business, and then followed a full-on, hectic and unrelenting 15 minutes of questions and analysis of the business from a bank manger, accountant, solicitor and the representative from Business Matters. It was good fun though, and processes like this help to define the strategy better as holes or points are uncovered that you may not find in repeated checking of your own work. We came away hoping that we'd got enough across in such a short space of time to at least demonstrate how the concept was sound, the thinking and planning complete, the backing and support from Gatwick Diamond Hub and others was strong, and that interest was already growing in the fresh food industry itself.

We were pleased with our presentation and the questions were good, not causing us many surprises or discomfort (Ian has been in this situation many times and has covered almost all bases to a great depth).

Today I got a call from Lorraine at Business Matters to tell me that we...


..had not quite won it - we were "a very close second" to quote Lorraine.

Boo.

Disappointed? Of course, since I truly believe in the concept (as does everyone else involved in it), but also as I felt it would genuinely make a great local story for the paper. Now that several offices and business centres have agreed to take the machines, they will be able to gain great respect and loyalty from their customers (staff) for delivering them fresh, healthy food options, something that they can really shout about!

We must have made a fair impression however, since we are to be featured in an article anyway, and Business Matters want to come back in 6 months and write an update on us then. I shall be providing them with regular updates along the way, so watch this space (as well as that of Business Matters!).