Vending customers want more than to just satisfy their hunger

Today’s premium healthy vending customers want more than to just satisfy their hunger. This post focuses on current directions in healthy vending snacks. A future post will focus on premium beverages.

Healthy vending trends are generally a reflection of grocery shopping trends, but there are a couple of specifics to keep in mind.

• Snacks must be available in a single serving size.

• Items must be shelf stable. Shelf stable means that they can be stored at room temperature in a sealed package, with a best before date far into the future.

In 2021, Whole Foods grocery store noted that the line between the grocery aisles and the supplements aisles is blurring and that this is likely to continue. (https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/trends/top-food-trends-2021.) An example is Simply Protein Bars. These are high-protein energy bars that also contain a supplement: iron.

Vending customers are often looking for more than a simple snack these days. 

Sometimes they are looking for foods that fit into a specific diet. Some of these diets are:

• Low Carb

• Low Fat

• Gluten-Free

• Keto

• Kosher

One example is Keto Bars. Another example is Garden Veggie Straws, which are certified Kosher, non-GMO and Gluten-Free.

Sometimes customers are seeking snacks with additional benefits. Those benefits can be for themselves:

• extra energy

• an immune system boost

• amino acids

• a dose of vitamins

Quest Bars use dairy protein to provide a complete amino acid profile, for example.

Other times those benefits can be for the greater good:

• ethically sourced cocoa

• reduced waste packaging

• reduced carbon footprint

For example, Farm to Table Popcorn’s factory is less than 100 km from their growers.

Nuts are a perennial favourite snack, whether a bowl in front of the TV or a bag grabbed from a vending machine. They’re good for you too. Positive results keep coming in. A study through the Million Veteran Program, released just this past August, found an increased dietary intake of nuts was beneficial for cardiovascular disease (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34578913/). The research into the benefit of nuts for your heart is well-publicized, making nuts a good snack option for healthy vending machines.

Along with nuts, dehydrated fruits like mango slices and cranberries are proven winners. More recently, fruits and vegetables dehydrated and enhanced at their prime are turned into fruit or veggie jerky.

It’s been said (more than once) that “chickpeas are the new cauliflower.” Chickpea snacks, puffs, and crackers are now on the market. Three Farmers Roasted Chickpeas Sea Salt are an example. They’re made with just 3 ingredients, chickpeas, oil and salt. They’re Gluten-Free and non-GMO.

Stocking your Vive Vending Machines with popular healthy snacks has never been easier, especially if you keep in mind today’s food shopping trends.