Plastering photos of your competitors on your website is typically not advised. So why do we regularly discuss our competitors and smart fridge technologies in our blogs and podcasts? It’s simple. There is a blue ocean of opportunity for smart fridge vending in the US right now, and each smart fridge company solves a specific problem. We intend to provide value by helping operators find their best fit faster.
Fresh vs. Shelf Stable
If you look at the images of the fridges above you can see how each company markets their technology in terms of branding, design, and the products they put inside their fridges. Identifying the shelf life category for your operation will quickly narrow the options. How much shelf life do your products have?
- Category 1: 1 year – Snickers & cola ($)
- Category 2: 10+ days – Lunchables and Hot Pockets ($$)
- Category 3: 5+ days – A Walmart quality salad ($$$)
- Category 4: 1+ days – A restaurant quality salad ($$$$)
Category 1 – Snickers
If you want to sell products like Snickers & cola, save your money and use an old-school vending machine. Costs associated with modern technology will eat up profits on these low-margin products.
Category 2 – Lunchables
If you want to sell products like Lunchables and Hot Pockets you can use any of the smart fridge companies above. These products have very consistent weights and long shelf life that is conducive to using all technologies including weight-based technologies like Vicki, Hubz, Pico, and Shelf X. Weight-based technologies are well aligned for these lower-margin products.
Category 3 – Walmart Salad
Mass-produced fresh food, like a Walmart salad, often has additives like sprays on the vegetables or a nitrogen gas injected to double the shelf life. While these may not be the most craveable products, they are healthy fresh food options that can create fresh food accessibility.
RFID-based technologies like FoodSpot and Byte are best fit for selling fresh food. Weight-based technologies require constant scale calibration with fresh food products and cannot remotely track individual product expirations. With RFID technology, a smart sticker is placed on every product to remotely track individual product expirations, ensuring your food safety and liability are not solely dependent on a delivery person properly rotating expiring products.
Category 4 – Restaurant-Quality
Selling restaurant-quality food with a short shelf life and high margins requires the flexibility and food safety of RFID technology. The two options, FoodSpot and Byte, are differentiated by the following:
| | Byte XL model | FoodSpot |
| Hardware | $7000 | $9999 |
| Shelf Space | 2,162 sq. in. | 3,774 sq. in. |
| RFID Stickers | Requires a unique roll of stickers per product, resulting in a considerable investment of time and money to manage. | Assign stickers to any product instantly. This provides simplicity, flexibility and savings to the operator. |
| Data Security | Single cellular data connection for dashboard and credit card transactions. | Two cellular data connections to achieve the highest level of PCI data security available in the US market. |
| Consumer Support | Contact information for the operator. | Daytime phone support and a 24/7 chatbot. |
| Operator Support | Daily Zoom hours, a dedicated launch manager and a resource library | |
| Launch Support | An hour-long consultation with a sales rep and a resource library | Daily Zoom hours, a dedicated launch manager, and a resource library |
| Bank Transfer | After 30 days | Next day |
Your Smart Vending Partner
FoodSpot fridges are a uniquely designed commercial solution for high-volume sales of fresh food that empowers operators to create the highest quality amenity with an industry-leading ROI. Our smart vending technology is used across the globe and our partner Beverage Air has been the leading American refrigeration manufacturer since 1944.
If high volume fresh food sales are aligned with your goals we can ship your smart fridge to you in the next week. If you have a couple of questions before pulling the trigger, schedule a consultation with one of our friendly smart vending experts.
