America’s massive vending market for foods and beverages may be static—at around $43 billion, according to Vending Times’ most recent “Annual Vending Industry Census”—and the “healthy” segment may account for only 4% of this total, but healthy vending’s rate of growth is firmly in double-digits, with some industry executives forecasting growth of as much as 50% per annum.
 
These are the findings from a series of interviews with US vending company executives, conducted by New Nutrition Business and published in a new report, Opportunities for healthy food and drink brands in the U.S. vending channel.
 
“Health is seen as an important way for vending companies to rebuild margins—healthy products can increase a vending machine’s profitability by between 11% and 17%,” according to Karen Raterman, the report’s author.
 
“The opportunity for more healthy products to be sold through the vending channel is increasing, thanks to changes in machine technology as much as to the healthy eating trend,” she said.
 
“It is clear that the vending channel can make a difference to the sales of small brands and regional or local brands,” added Julian Mellentin of New Nutrition Business, “with some seeing 50% annual growth”.
 
The report includes a detailed Case Study of how a small, flexible company was able to adapt its products to fit in a vending machine and meet school nutritional criteria. It is now the best-selling cookie for one of the leading vending companies.