A fresh food vending machine is not a toaster.
This is an often-repeated phrase at FoodSpot to remind our operators that launching a smart vending machine involves many variables. It’s not a toaster that you can unbox, plug in, and use without reading the instructions.
At my last catering company, we had a Rational combi oven arrive two days before a Mother’s Day brunch. After a bit of scrambling, we got it up and running to serve lemon tarts to the well-deserving mothers just two days later. Successfully opening a fresh food microstore requires much more time, forethought, and coordination than my two-day catering scramble.
From researching different smart vending solutions, to getting stakeholder approval, to properly training your team, launching an automated retail location requires dedicated project management to be successful. Oftentimes, operators are surprised at how much time and effort it takes to launch a a smart fridge. We find it’s incredibly helpful to view it as opening a fresh food micro-brick-and-mortar rather than plugging in a fancy vending machine.
At FoodSpot, we designed our launch process to be simple enough for any food operation, from large institutions to mom-and-pop shops, to have all the tools needed to launch a successful smart fridge program. In this article, we’ll cover this launch process.
Why invest in a smart vending solution?
If you’re still wondering whether a fresh food vending solution is right for your operation, check out this article about the different ways a fresh food vending machine can benefit your business. Most operators end up investing in smart vending for one or more of the following reasons:
- To increase same-store sales
- To provide 24/7 fresh food accessibility to their community
- To sell to new and existing customers around the clock without a cashier
If you’ve decided to invest in automated food vending but don’t know which solution to choose, check out this article about how to choose the best smart vending solution. At the end of the day, your decision should be informed by
- The types of products you want to offer
- The customer experience you want to provide
- The ROI you hope to earn
This guide is primarily for those looking to launch a fresh food vending platform—a smart vending machine you stock with your own food and operate yourself. These solutions are beneficial because you own your product mix and revenue. Whichever type of automated retail solution you launch, this guide will help you avoid headaches, eliminate delays, and launch a successful program.
Steps to launching a fresh food vending machine
The following process is what FoodSpot operators engage in to launch one of our BA1 smart fridges, but these steps can apply to all solutions. As former foodservice operators with 10 years of smart fridge experience, we’re constantly learning the best ways to help operators launch a successful smart fridge program. We’re always gathering feedback to optimize our launch process so it’s digestible and efficient for organizations of all sizes. Here’s the process we have found to be the most effective:
- Choose a solution. We won’t go into depth about choosing a solution here, but the articles above can provide all the guidance you need. As you meet with different providers, be sure to ask the following questions:
- What does your launch program entail? (white glove, live training, etc.)
- What type of support do you offer? (i.e. dedicated support person)
- What payment integrations do you have? (campus card, payroll deduct)
- Gather stakeholder approval. Once you have decided on your solution, it’s time to get approval from the different stakeholders in your organization.
- Your finance team may need to review the processing terms
- The building administrator may need to review the specs of the hardware
- Your IT and legal teams may need to review the data security features
To simplify things, we have packaged all of this information about the BA1 into a single doc we provide upon request. Ask if your solution provider has the same.
- Place a PO. FoodSpot operators typically launch one month from when they place their first purchase order.
- Have a kick-off call. At FoodSpot, we like to get all the stakeholders on a call as soon as possible to communicate roles, present timelines, and answer questions.
- Complete the intake forms (1 Week). To set up your account, your smart vending partner will require some information about your organization. For example:
- Who will be managing the smart fridge program?
- Who should receive notifications about fridge activity?
- Who will be managing the flow of funds generated by the smart fridge?
If you launch FoodSpot, we gather this information through intake forms for both your Operations team and your Finance team.
- Receive and set up the hardware (1 Week). Again, this is not a toaster. Make sure your provider sends you adequate instructions for unpacking and setting up the hardware and software. FoodSpot offers step-by-step video tutorials and white-glove service.
- Set up your merchant account (2 Weeks). Typically, your smart vending partner will connect you with their payment processor whom you’ll work with to set up your merchant account. This step typically takes the longest and should be started as early as possible. When launching FoodSpot, you have a dedicated point person with our payment processing partner to walk you through the entire process, including integrations with your campus card or payroll deduct solution. We’ve seen a merchant account approved in 2 weeks, but some organizations may take longer to review contracts.
- Receive training (1 Week). Have I mentioned that a smart fridge is not a toaster? At FoodSpot, we provide a multimedia training course that culminates in a live training with a human from our team. Additionally, our team offers a separate marketing call to talk through best practices for spreading the word about your new smart fridge. Ultimately, your smart vending partner should consider your success as their success.
- Soft launch (1 Week). Always do a soft launch. Smart fridge operators typically take one week to dial in their operations and iron out any issues. In this period, operators gain knowledge that is crucial to the success of their food vending program, including,
- The best method to apply smart stickers to their specific products
- The best stocking cadence for their different locations
- Consumer preferences and behavior
Launch a survey in this period to understand what products your consumers want to see in the smart fridge. It is important to drive demand and adoption in the first few weeks of launch.
- Continue to iterate. The best programs learn from their data. Make sure your smart vending partner provides a robust dashboard with insights such as best sellers or most expired items. Operators who let data guide their operation see profitability grow steadily over time. Besides location, merchandising is the single most important factor to smart fridge success. Always ask yourself if you’re optimizing for a highly visible, highly trafficked location. Every six months, refresh your merchandising strategy with a customer survey and a review of the best merchandising practices.
Launch with a partner
When you buy a toaster, you don’t think of Cuisinart as a partner in your avocado toast success—the toaster just works. When you launch a smart vending solution, partnership is crucial. From project management to robust training materials to agile support, you will lean heavily on your smart vending partner throughout the entire launch process and beyond. Besides kick-off calls, emails, and texts every step of the launch, partnership with FoodSpot offers you Live Zoom Calls every day of the week for the life of your program, a robust warranty, and a help center that gets you answers with just a few clicks.
If you’re interested in speaking about fresh food vending for your business, feel free to book some time with us here.
