Vending

Upmeals deploys smart vending machine at residential property

Welcoming the machine are, at left: Alexandra Shafran of Devonshire, Cody Neal of Devonshire, Drew Munro of UpMeals and Jeffrey Shafran of Devonshire. Photo courtesy of Upmeals.

March 10, 2021

Upmeals, a white-label, prepared-meal solution provider, launched its first SmartVending machine at a residential property, Devonshire Properties' Larch Tower location in Vancouver, British Columbia, according to a press release.

The newly installed machine will give the more than 1,000 residents access to custom curated healthy meals available in the lobby of the building, 24/7. Residents will be able to grab healthy options on their way to work in the morning, have a freshly prepared entrée in the evening and have access to healthy treats and snacks throughout the day. The SmartVending machine will also hold 25% of items that are daily necessities, such as laundry cards, detergent and toothpaste.

The SmartVending hardware is a refrigerated machine installed in the Larch Tower lobby, located at 1600 Beach Avenue, with an interface customized to reflect Devonshire's branding. The healthy meals are delivered to the machine at a regular cadence to ensure ultimate freshness. Devonshire Properties will have the ability to monitor their SmartVending machine remotely, create plans for meals nearing their expiry date and build menus based on the popularity of food items.

To curate the menu, residents of the Beach Tower property participated in a survey provided by UpMeals identifying the goals and benefits they want to achieve with the meals and snacks available to them.

The survey included their dietary and cuisine preferences and eating habits, which helped inform their customized menu offering, including items like the Devonshire Signature Breakfast Wrap, Baja Chicken Salad Bowl, Fall Harvest Bowl and Seed Nut Superfood Bar. Any meals that are not sold within their freshness time frame will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

"When we heard about the UpMeals SmartVending machine, we saw huge potential benefit for our tenants and residents," Cody Neal, vice president of Devonshire Properties, said in the press release. "Not only does it give them access to convenient, affordable food options which they've helped create, it is well-timed while many pivot to working from home. Onsite access to safe and healthy fresh food options really seems to have residents excited."

Devonshire has plans to customize and install SmartVending machines in other properties throughout the Lower Mainland.