Vending machines today offer a lot more than just your average bag of chips and pop, you can find machines around the world that offer everything from electronics to clothes, dairy products, and a myriad of other goods. These machines have proven to be a low cost and convenient method for delivering all sorts of goodies, even cars.
It's believed that the very first vending machine concept originated more than 2,000 years ago and for centuries people have been buying tobacco, stamps, and other goods from these machines with ease.
A great deal of these machines however, have been known to offer arguably unhealthy snacks, and they've been a target in the past as a suggested culprit for why so many children today are unhealthy and overweight.
The variety of food that is offered via these convenient machines continues to change though. Increasingly, we have seen them come to offer healthy alternatives.
The use of these machines is expected to continue growing, although the machines of the future will be quite different from the ones of the past. As more people seek to get a quick snack fix in their busy lives, or more convenience when purchasing other products, vending machines will come to meet that need and continue to thrive.
Now, you can find machines that are not only dispensing various food items, almost anything you can think of, but they are also cooking and preparing the food too before serving.
In Chicago, there has been a 24/7 pizza vending machine that serves pizza ready in just 3 minutes, and they had hopes of putting those machines all over the country. There have been Burrito Boxes as well that have been placed around the Los Angeles area, known as the world's first burrito vending machine operation. There are still many different venues for vending machines to be introduced and people will always tend to seek what's convenient, cheap, fresh, and fast.
The machines are helping to bring more on-demand food options to people who need it, giving them the benefit of obtaining access to those goods almost any time of day.
In New York,...
Fresh Bowl is looking to bring more healthy food options that are quick and convenient to people who need them, they also want to reduce unnecessary plastic packing that is commonly included with salad options at the store. Anyone who makes a purchase from the machine is able to then return that glass jar the next time for a discount on the next one.
Aside from New York with Fresh Bowl, you've got Farmer's Fridge in Chicago, Larry's Market in Vancouver, and you will likely soon be able to find similar salad machines being introduced in other parts of the world as well, offering a variety of healthy snacks . They've been dubbed the vending machines of the future; we can expect that they will continue to influence and change the future of how we shop.
Pics:
Pic1 via Pexels
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Pic3 CBS
Pic4 Fresh Bowl via FastCompany
