Vending

Return to work sharpens location focus on convenience services

Locations want to entice as many people as possible but still have concerns over cost and don't always know how many will be back, making customer communication more critical than ever.

Image provided by iStock.

September 28, 2022 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Customer locations are paying as much attention to convenience services as ever as they bring employees back to work.

And while many convenience services operators welcome the improvement, the new work place does introduce challenges.

In many instances, employee work schedules are less regular. Which, in some cases, makes customer needs less predictable.

A panel of industry experts agreed the need to communicate with customers has become more critical than ever during a National Automatic Merchandising Association webinar, "Managing demand as America returns in person." Ben White, NAMA director of education and training, moderated the webinar.

Juan Jorquera

The bar rises

Location managers have always wanted to offer high quality food and refreshments to keep employees motivated and to entice them to want to stay in the office, but according to some veterans, the bar has risen.

"They're really trying to bolster their perks," observed panelist Juan Jorquera, chief marketing officer at Vagabond Vending, a convenience services software provider.

Panelist Linda Saldana, CEO at Seventh Wave Refreshments in Atlanta, said some accounts that want to maximize the customer experience have gone from having a regular micro market to a heavily subsidized one.

"With the technology that we have we can subsidize just the regular food piece or we could subsidize the beverages," she said. "The really happy surprise is we've seen micro markets turn into pantries.

"Since we're catering to this hybrid approach — one third of the group per day — then it becomes something that's realistic within budget and honestly helps the services because we're able to see them more often or we're able to keep the product fresher.

"Micro markets have been a really great solution for pantry/catering approaches," she said.

Linda Saldana

A balancing act

According to panelist Art Siller, senior vice president of operations at Evergreen Refreshments, based in Tukwila, Washington, customers want to entice as many people as possible but still have concerns over cost and don't know how many will be back.

"The hybrid model of having either somewhat subsidized or highly subsidized markets has been something we've been talking about with our largest pantry clients," he said. "At the same time what's really exciting that I'm seeing is both small pantry programs with just several products being offered are increasing [and] clients are a lot more inclined to say 'we'd like to have several selections available' where they had nothing before."

He is also seeing "elevated" OCS programs that include requests for bean-to-cup brewers from clients who historically would not have entertained it.

"They're saying 'these are easy programs for us to invest in,'" he said. "They don't cost a ton compared to other initiatives and they keep people engaged."

Saldana agreed there is more appreciation for higher quality coffee. The conversation used to be about caffeine to make people productive, but now it's more about quality.

"Companies are actually bringing baristas in," she said. "The coffee conversation is a big conversation right now."

Siller's company has streamlined OCS offerings to make room for local roasters which is important to a lot of people.

Art Siller

"It's what the client's asking for," he said. They've reduced SKUs to make room for it. This includes sweeteners and creamers, syrups, tea, water, compostable products and paper products.

The company is also offering premium ice and water makers.

One operator Jorquera knows kept the equipment in place but the account is ordering and stocking the product themselves, a scenario he described as a "pantry/market" hybrid.

"That seems to have been a nice happy solution for them," Jorquera said.

In search for variety

The panelists agreed that one of the long standing benefits of micro markets — the chance to showcase a lot of variety — remains as important to customers as ever.

Siller said his company introduces five to 10 new items a month at locations. During COVID, he noticed increases in "pleasure" foods, but did not see any change in keto, paleo and high protein trends.

"Those trends didn't go away," Siller said.

Jorquera concurred that pleasure foods became popular but everything else stayed level.

During the pandemic, many consumers got used to spending a dollar amount that they wouldn't normally spend on vending, Saldana said. This has been an opportunity.

She has, for example, seen a lift in healthy snacks.

"They really are participating in the 'better for you, fit for you snacks'" as they return to the workplace, she said. "There's an opportunity there to offer a solution for wellness within the business."

Point of sale marketing

Another benefit that new technology has delivered is the ability to promote more effectively at the point of sale.

New items at Evergreen Refreshments are promoted on TV screens and billboards, Siller said. "We're specifically calling out on the shelf where the new items are," he said.

The company also uses digital advertising and static clings at the cooler.

"It certainly helps the market feel dynamic and not static when you do that," he said.

The company also has ongoing promotions, such as happy hours, giveaways and combo deals.

Jorquera agreed operators are looking more at promotion tools. A lot of operators realized they has not been using all available tools.

Overall, operators who are using state-of-the-art tools are upbeat.

"We're actually seeing offices open and back that I thought we weren't going to see for quite some time," Saldana said.

Photos courtesy of NAMA.