Due diligence is complete! You’ve identified the smart vending platform that best fits your goals. Up next: location, location, location. As smart vending veterans, we’ve found that the best vending locations can be split up into 3 categories which we call 24 Hour, Lifestyle, and Underserved.
24 Hour
Consumers demand food around the clock, but traditional foodservice cannot keep up. Staffing more hours is one of the biggest challenges for today’s food creators.
With the advent of unattended retail and third-wave, smart vending platforms, selling fresh food 24/7 is now a reality. Who needs 24-hour fresh food the most?
A nurse at 3 am. A traveler waiting on a red-eye flight. A student in a late study session.
Hospitals, airports, and universities are great locations for your smart vending machine. These places see foot traffic at times when staffed food counters cannot afford to be open, which makes them ideal locations for smart vending machines.
People you should talk to: director-level managers who focus on culinary, operations, nutrition, or retail
Lifestyle
Consumers find themselves at lifestyle locations multiple times throughout the day. These places include office buildings, condo lobbies, and gyms. These busy consumers may have access to quick snacks and drinks at a lifestyle location, but fresh, hearty options are limited by proximity and time of day.
Your microstore could be just what these people need as they wait, work, and move throughout their day.
People you should talk to: property manager, building tenant association or general manager
Underserved
Introducing affordable fresh food into underserved areas is the true vision of FoodSpot. Underserved areas are any location where fresh food is out of reach due to availability, economic circumstances, or bureaucracy.
FoodSpot founder, Nathan Downs, grew up in Rochester, NY where his family had a large garden that provided fresh food all summer. The void of fresh food options in their inner-city neighborhood left a lasting impression on the realities of access for many Americans.
In a brick-and-mortar retail industry as tough as this one, opening a fresh food retail store in an underserved area can be seen as a big risk for many food creators. Smart vending machines are key to bringing affordable, healthy snacks and meals to these areas
People you should talk to: city council members, manufacturing plant GMs, fulfillment center GMs
Choose the Best Vending Machine Location
We believe the future of vending is driven by purpose and value. Food creators can now use third-wave vending technology to securely expand into 24-hour, Lifestyle, and Underserved markets on their terms. This will create fresh food accessibility for consumers who need it most.
Contact us to discuss whether opening an unattended microstore is right for your business.
Pro tip: the footprint inside the building is equally as important as the building itself. Be sure your beautiful fresh food is front and center as an amenity to that building.
