wbuffett Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 i was wondering what kind of healthy type snacks you guys are using and having success with. i have been having good success with veggie straws/chips and special K crisps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 First question is how are you defining "healthy"? I use the Fitpick program and then add some items that are also 100% organic and natural. Www.fitpick.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbuffett Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 that helps. i'd define it as lower calorie options than the standard candy bar/ potato chip/ cookie that we see in most vending machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 The biggest problem with healthy vending is no one can or has actually defined what healthy is exactly. We all know what is supposed to be healthy and what we should and should not eat but I see most of the issue being portion sizing. The new calorie disclosure law require calories only to be displayed and nothing else. How is that giving information that is meaningful. A large apple could have more calories than a 100 cal pack but it is better for you. The only good thing is the calorie count must be on the package size and not by serving size. Myself, I can't drink aspartame, so for me a regular soda is healthier then a diet soda. Hows that for a twist!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 The biggest problem with healthy vending is no one can or has actually defined what healthy is exactly. We all know what is supposed to be healthy and what we should and should not eat but I see most of the issue being portion sizing. The new calorie disclosure law require calories only to be displayed and nothing else. How is that giving information that is meaningful. A large apple could have more calories than a 100 cal pack but it is better for you. The only good thing is the calorie count must be on the package size and not by serving size. Myself, I can't drink aspartame, so for me a regular soda is healthier then a diet soda. Hows that for a twist!! Why anybody drinks aspartame is beyond me... In a world where everything around you that you eat and touch is slowly giving you some type of cancer. you would think that you would avoid consuming chemicals like aspartame just to help in the least to increase your odds of survival Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Why anybody drinks aspartame is beyond me... In a world where everything around you that you eat and touch is slowly giving you some type of cancer. you would think that you would avoid consuming chemicals like aspartame just to help in the least to increase your odds of survival well everyone has to go some time, at least nobody will get a hernia lifting the casket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 This is exactly what I mean. The Mayor of Boston banned all sugar drink from state buildings as he sees them as unhealthy. All you can get it diet soda or water. So, where is the healthy standard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 real sugar is not bad for you! If you have use it in moderation and on par with a decent excessive regiment! I go for hansens all natural soda or izze (which is actually juice) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendors Tech Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 real sugar is not bad for you! If you have use it in moderation and on par with a decent excessive regiment! I go for hansens all natural soda or izze (which is actually juice) That's all I sell in my soda machines as well, apart from teas and juices. They don't do as well as Pepsi and Coke, but I'd rather sell a product that was healthy, and make less, then sell a product that was unhealthy, and profit off people's ignorance of how sugar filled soda can hurt you when consumed in large quantities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 But ain't that the whole point. To you sugar is ok. To others it isnt so who is correct? Hell, let's just all have a Big Mac and cancel it out with a Diet Coke. I'll even skip the drive thru and walk in for the extra exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 But ain't that the whole point. To you sugar is ok. To others it isnt so who is correct? Hell, let's just all have a Big Mac and cancel it out with a Diet Coke. I'll even skip the drive thru and walk in for the extra exercise. Not to hijack the thread.... but what about carbs, fat, sodium, etc? Don't they merit some consideration? I've mentioned it before but with the City of San Antonio contract the critera established puts a focus on Fat, Sat Fat, carbs and sodium. The end result is that I can put Funyons and Andy Capp hot fries in the machine next to a baked Cheeto or nutrigrain bar and call all of them healthy. :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Not to hijack the thread.... but what about carbs, fat, sodium, etc? Don't they merit some consideration? I've mentioned it before but with the City of San Antonio contract the critera established puts a focus on Fat, Sat Fat, carbs and sodium. The end result is that I can put Funyons and Andy Capp hot fries in the machine next to a baked Cheeto or nutrigrain bar and call all of them healthy. :o moderation? maybe the machines should just let you have 1 vend a day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Whenever somebody says healthy snacks somebody says "wellllll you have to define healthy!..... it could be a baked lay or a fritos or it could be a fruit tray" can we ever get over this when somebody says healthy in todays world they are mostly talking about natural or organic products that are packed with good nutrition because they have the human body in mind when they create it. most of the places i have met with had a previous vendor put baked lays or even pop tarts in their machines and call them healthy, but the people I have talked to want better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Whenever somebody says healthy snacks somebody says "wellllll you have to define healthy!..... it could be a baked lay or a fritos or it could be a fruit tray" can we ever get over this when somebody says healthy in todays world they are mostly talking about natural or organic products that are packed with good nutrition because they have the human body in mind when they create it. most of the places i have met with had a previous vendor put baked lays or even pop tarts in their machines and call them healthy, but the people I have talked to want better. Thats the BIG problem in vending. You are correct these "people" we talk to want better healthy items. However, at the end of the day will these items sell? Will the account do enough volume to justify doing them? Will I as a company be able to have enough demand for the product. Will I as a company be able to be profitable at it. These "people" could care less about you as a company and have no clue if their is enough demand to be profitable. Vending companies in my area are telling these "people" to go pound sand when they get to demanding about their requirments. I know of a decent size county that was taking bids this week that had no solid vedning companies place bids because of their high demands and requirments. A large demand was the "healthy" items. These companies know at this point it is a loosing proposition and not profitable. I am sure one day "healhty" vending will be more main stream but as of right now it is not..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 The biggest problem with healthy vending is no one can or has actually defined what healthy is exactly. We all know what is supposed to be healthy and what we should and should not eat but I see most of the issue being portion sizing. The new calorie disclosure law require calories only to be displayed and nothing else. How is that giving information that is meaningful. A large apple could have more calories than a 100 cal pack but it is better for you. The only good thing is the calorie count must be on the package size and not by serving size. Myself, I can't drink aspartame, so for me a regular soda is healthier then a diet soda. Hows that for a twist!! This is just a footnote to your discussion. Over the past year I had to give up all drinks except water. It was hard but on the plus side I have lost a bunch of weight, feel better and enjoy a tall glass of ice water more than I would have dreamed....Poplady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserri Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Mmmm. Big Mac. I define healthy as anything that keeps me alive. Big Macs have been doing that for me for close to 40 years so why change. Sent using the Tapatalk Forum Viewer for Android. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 RJT has it right. What people say they want and what they will actually spend $$ are sometimes very different stories. No vending operator can afford to put in a 5K refridgerated machine, load it with fresh fruit and come back in 7 days and pull 50 bucks and throw out another 50 bucks worth of expired product. The organic stuff is a niche market, granted a rapidly growing market, but still a niche. Many people love the idea but when they see a bag of Back to Nature cheez its at a 1.25 vend price for a 1 oz bag. Well lets just that interest wanes considerably. IMO that is why these "healthy vending" companies target locations with hundreds if not thousands of visitors because it takes that many people to find enough hard core health conscious people to make the location POTENTIALLY proditable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 RJT has it right. What people say they want and what they will actually spend $$ are sometimes very different stories. No vending operator can afford to put in a 5K refridgerated machine, load it with fresh fruit and come back in 7 days and pull 50 bucks and throw out another 50 bucks worth of expired product. The organic stuff is a niche market, granted a rapidly growing market, but still a niche. Many people love the idea but when they see a bag of Back to Nature cheez its at a 1.25 vend price for a 1 oz bag. Well lets just that interest wanes considerably. IMO that is why these "healthy vending" companies target locations with hundreds if not thousands of visitors because it takes that many people to find enough hard core health conscious people to make the location POTENTIALLY proditable. sun chips are probably the only thing ive seen that has national recognition, most healthy snacks taste like cardboard and even though they are getting better you dont know that when its in the machine. everyone knows what doritos tastes like i think people are less likely to take a flier on some weirdo brand of chips even if its only a buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Have you guys been to a fresh market or whole foods and tried some of the new products... Healthy food no longer tastes like cardboard and the prices are comparable... But you have to mix it up and see what sells... if a fruit cup that expires isnt selling dont sell fruit cups ... every location is gunna be different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Have you guys been to a fresh market or whole foods and tried some of the new products... Healthy food no longer tastes like cardboard and the prices are comparable... But you have to mix it up and see what sells... if a fruit cup that expires isnt selling dont sell fruit cups ... every location is gunna be different Daniel, I know you are "wound up" over this healthy vending but I am very aware of what "healthy" stuff taste like. We shop at Whole Foods once a month and spend over 1k a month their for our family. However I also ate a Dbl Cheeseburger todat at Mickey D's. So I am not a health nut even though I shop at wholefoods. What we are trying to tell you is dont let those guys brain wash you into thinking you are going to get rich in the all healthy vending business because you aint. I have worked for some very large companies and done consulting for many also and healthy vending is part of their lineup but it is a small portion. It is also done just to help sastify a very small portion of our customer base. For the most part if it wasnt mandated by some accounts we wouldnt do it at all because it is not that profitable for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I have to agree with RJT on this. I have 2 whole foods within 10 miles of my house. I have in that same area at least 20 regular supermarkets. If healthy was as big as some are saying there would be more whole foods and they would reopen the one that just closed. It is an upcoming trend but not mainstream and needs much more work to be successful then the old stand by. I do wish you well but be careful of the hype and be smart with your purchases and cash outlay. Just because they want the machines doesn't mean they will use them they way you need them to be used to be profitable. As a distributor I will be the first one to say only buy machines when you need them. Don't buy ten because that is what the package is. It is more important that you are successful then to sell you a bunch of machines and kill you with debt before you can make any money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Have you guys been to a fresh market or whole foods and tried some of the new products... Healthy food no longer tastes like cardboard and the prices are comparable... But you have to mix it up and see what sells... if a fruit cup that expires isnt selling dont sell fruit cups ... every location is gunna be different for the last year ive tried most of the healthy / organic foods out there what i found is the stuff that tastes good really isnt much better for you than the regular snack foods... for example i really like these "terra vegitable chips" but they only have 10 cal less than regular old lays chips. everything else is the same but it actually has more sugar and carbs a lot of it is portion size gimmicks or simply being labeled organic. so far as i know theres no particular health benefits from that its just a gimmick the stuff thats really good for you (rice cakes, so on) is really the same old stuff thats been around for years, it just tastes lousy lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedk Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Daniel: Another thing to consider in this discussion is that the people who ask for healthy snacks almost invariably are the people who by the least snacks. It is hard to make money from people who may only buy a snack once every couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 There is a part of "healthy" that I have nailed into my head that goes far beyond calories, trans fat, and sugar but is seldom looked at and I think it should also be considered. It is the amount of "processing" that goes into making a food and how many chemicals or ingredients are inside of something that our bodies just weren't meant to eat. Aspartame for example or artificial sweeteners, but this ranges to a whole array of chemicals that big companies love to put in our foods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BendyVendy Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Healthy to me includes juices, salads, fruit and nut bars etc but they are not always the healthiest when you look at what's in them. I remember when it was shown that a McDonalds salad was less healthy in terms of fat than the burger because of the mayo. Fresh juice is great but long life isn't so much. Can't go too wrong with water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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