Nutrition Concerns Increase

More school districts imposed restrictions on vend products in 2004. While schools did not represent a major customer segment, concerns about nutrition have expanded to other accounts.

While public officials continued to blame poor diets for rising obesity, the aging of the baby boomers also contributed to a higher level of health awareness. In 2004, low carbohydrates diets in particular became more popular, and are still quite popular even today.

Antares vending operators responded to health and nutrition concerns in various ways. They took note of what the public wanted in terms of healthier vend products. Some Antares operators have opted to have healthy products in their vending machines so that they can cater to this growing section of the public.

Some Antares operators simply made customers aware of the fact that many of the products offered in the vending machines already fit into the various “health food” definitions.

Antares operators with state of the art computer systems were able to show account managers what products consumers were and were not buying in the machines. The nutrition issue was cited by many vending operators as an important reason for having the ability to track line item sales.

Operators offered mixed views on whether or not healthier items were actually selling better than they did in the past. In the past health products were not very popular with the public, but this has all changed in recent times. There has been a growing demand for health products mainly due to the health concerns that have come about because of the problem that America has with obesity.

Healthy vend products carry higher price points. This does not really affect the sales made in the Antares operations because the public that demand these products do not mind paying a higher price for these products.

There are some vending operators who have decided to have health products dedicated vending machines in their operations. Depending on the location that these machines are placed, the sales from these machines have been profitable. As an Antares operators, you can place some health vend products in your machine and wait to see how well they will sell.