Revenue down from AISD vending contract after removal of soda

[mission vending]

On the topic of offering/mandating healthier items, here is one result:

http://bigcountryhomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=315826

[RJT]

This is why I have said if as a vendor you dont have control that you are fighting a loosing battle. Drink only healthy vending is hard enough but snacks is a no win situation.

Sure, you can just accept it and make less revenue or spend your energy concentrating on accounts that generate the most revenue. Until healthy vending is “mandated” by the general public it will not work.

30 years ago smoking in public was an accepted practice. Now the general public (the masses) “mandate” that it is no longer acceptable and it makes sense to have smoke free businesses. One day healthy vending may be widely accepted but we are not their yet.

[NinnJinn]

What did they think would happen?  the water fairy would come and bless them?

[Poplady1]

I think one of the important parts of that article is "despite the loss of revenue they have no plans to bring soda back".  That should tell us something about school vending in the future.

I do work with two vendors in CA who have taken this healthy vending and ran with it.  They have researched what items kids will still purchase from machines.  Then that's what they put in, the revenue starts climbing back up and everyone is happier.  So its just a matter of us using our business sense and figuring it out.

The trick is to find enough cross over products that you can sell in our of your machines.  We need a couple more years to have that information.  Vistar in Downey CA has agreed to carry all of the approved California nutritional products.  So those vendors have a source to buy what they need for the location. So if you need some products talk to your Vistar location, they might work with you.

[mission vending]

I think one of the important parts of that article is "despite the loss of revenue they have no plans to bring soda back".  That should tell us something about school vending in the future.

I do work with two vendors in CA who have taken this healthy vending and ran with it.  They have researched what items kids will still purchase from machines.  Then that's what they put in, the revenue starts climbing back up and everyone is happier.  So its just a matter of us using our business sense and figuring it out.

The trick is to find enough cross over products that you can sell in our of your machines.  We need a couple more years to have that information.  Vistar in Downey CA has agreed to carry all of the approved California nutritional products.  So those vendors have a source to buy what they need for the location. So if you need some products talk to your Vistar location, they might work with you.

It takes a lot of effort, but I agree with Bev. It will take a few more years to go mainstream but "healthy vending" is here to stay and those the figure it out and can make money doing it will be the ones that will thrive in the future. IMO our industry lost the opportunity to drive the bus on the issue by not recognizing soon enough the changes that were coming. So now we have to to figure out how to deal with the mandates that legislators are forcing upon us.