Blog Archives
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Toys Making Kids Fat? Get Serious, Listen To Mrs. Obama
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday June 30, 2010The Center for Science in the Public Interests lawsuit against McDonalds over its use of toys in promoting kids meals should remind us of the need for sanity in our nations discussion on childhood obesity. The lawsuit, which seeks to stop McDonalds from using toys to promote its Happy Meals, is the work of a radical fringe that uses legal mechanisms and aggressive public relations to draw attention to itself. It should make every segment of the food industry recognize the need for a sane discussion.Fortunately, the leadership of First Lady Michelle Obama has been exemplary on the issue of childhood obesity. Her sane leadership should not be taken for granted.This year, the White Houses Childhood Obesity Task Force has sought input from... -
Vending Needs To Resurrect Food To Regain Its Former Glory
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday June 23, 2010In working on our upcoming State of the Vending Industry Report, it has become clear that good things are happening in today's highly challenging business environment.There is no doubt that new technology is creating a lot of excitement, even in a recession. And while I'm a big supporter of technology, I don't believe that technology in and of itself will return vending to the relevant role it once played in consumers' lives. Coffee service, by contrast, has held its own during the recession. Why? Because today's office coffee presentations are relevant to the consumer. Today's brew-on-demand systems excite the consumer and beat the pants off of alternative retail options when it comes to overall value. We as an industry must think long and... -
Shouldn't We, As An Industry, Promote Sales Auditing To Customers?
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday June 16, 2010Recently I heard from a reader who took an exception to a comment I made in one of my editors notes on 06-13-10 concerning what I thought to be a high commission in a vending contract for a public account. The reader took exception to my implication that the successful bidder did not give a fair and accurate accounting of themselves. He raises a valid point. More importantly, he has caused me to consider what the proper course of action our industry should be taking with regard to vending contracts that appear questionable. The commission in question struck me as excessive. And since there are now auditing tools to ensure honest sales reporting, I suggested that the newspaper that reported the story ask the customer how they audit the... -
Starbucks 'E-Cup' Fit This Client's Need, Gives Glimpse To Future
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday June 9, 2010st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } The most advanced technological solutions take time to find an application. Im pleased to say that the Starbucks E-Cup, a Starbucks interactive brewer with cashless capability, has found a niche, and that niche is going to become more prevalent in the future. Automatic Merchandiser reported on the E-Cup, in a feature article in March 2009. The E-Cup has a USA Technologies ePort card reader that accepts both magnetic stripe and contactless cards. I recently came across the first E-Cup in Cleveland, Ohio at a biomedical facility that houses a several research and development companies. The E-Cup was a perfect solution for this account. This is a new building. The building wants to attract biomedical... -
Clear Strategy Needed To Battle Discriminatory Taxes; Unsolicited Gifts Will Backfire
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday June 2, 2010We are living in challenging times, and the refreshment services industry has been specifically singled out for discriminatory taxes to help local and state governments meet budget shortfalls. Government officials have proposed taxes on soda and other refreshments, claiming to seek funds to battle obesity but in reality are looking for badly-needed revenue. Opposing these proposals is tricky, since the industry is easily vilified as holding undue influence when it opposes discriminatory taxes. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the city of Philadelphia, where the mayor recently sought to saddle consumers with a soda tax. The Philadelphia Inquirer opposed the soda tax for many of the same reasons that the industry did, but it made... -
Recession Has Helped Push Vendors To Invest In The Future
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday May 26, 2010Its a clich to say that an industry, any industry, is at a crossroad. But Ill risk using this clich, because this describes where the vending industry is at. The recession has caused more vending operators to consider making serious investments in their businesses than at any time in recent history. The best news operators have had to report recently is that the loss in sales has stopped and begun to recover slightly. Some locations have begun rehiring. Consumers in general are not freaking out about losing their jobs if they havent already, and have begun spending a little more freely. During the recession, operators realized the only way to remain profitable was to operate more efficiently. In many cases, this involved reducing... -
The Food Wars Are Back: A Call To Action For Vending
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday May 19, 2010Its old news now, but the recession has brought the food wars back, and the restaurant chains are doing backward summersaults to get people in their doors. Most chains are offering discounts to get value conscious consumers inside. Pizza Hut began the year offering any size pizza with toppings for $10. Taco Bell has a $2 menu featuring four different combo meals. Dennys has $2, $4 and $6 and $8 value meals. Burger King recently made a bid for the casual dining audience with its $8.99 ribs. It only shows how anxious they are to grab market share wherever they can. Convenience stores recognize the opportunity to win more food sales, and they are also offering more value meals. The vending industry has as much to gain and lose as any class... -
The Seattles Best Coffee Machine: Another Chance To Revive Hot Beverage Vending
By Elliot Maras - Tuesday May 11, 2010Did you catch the Seattles Best Coffee (SBC) bean-to-cup vending machine in the Starbucks and Crane booths at the National Automatic Merchandising Association OneShow? A lot of you did, judging from comments Ive received. Starbucks, which owns SBC, has taken a close look at the vending channel. This machine could do a lot to revive hot beverage vending, which took a beating even before the recession. The SBC product, at 12 and 16 ounces, tastes great. The machine looks fabulous. Vending operators have long missed the boat when it comes to branding their hot drink machines, which is one reason that segment has suffered so much. Some vendors, such as Canteen, have branded their hot drink machines with house brand coffee. But national... -
The First OneShow Was A Show To Remember
By Elliot Maras - Wednesday May 5, 2010When the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) announced plans to move to one annual show, they took on a big job. Planning for a larger and longer trade show that would give exhibitors one opportunity to present products and give operators a years worth of knowledge, all in a comfortable setting, was no mean feat. Last week, they delivered in spades. Most of us are still trying to dig out from under the piles of sample products, literature and notes. Here at VendingMarketWatch, were in the process of covering the show through our podcasts from the show floor, videos taken on the show floor, and written reports of education sessions. Stay tuned daily. The pleasant spring weather in Chicago helped things go smoothly. The... -
We Need To Act Like Professionals: So Far, Technology Players Are On Board
By Elliot Maras - Tuesday April 27, 2010Many observers have postulated that technology will help make the vending industry more professional. The newer software systems, the remote machine monitoring, the video screens and the cashless technology have all been cited as helping to change our industrys reputation for the better. These are tools that in and of themselves wont change anything unless the behavior of our industry changes. The way in which technology players are approaching the industry gives reason to believe they are setting a good example as professionals. The dictionary defines professionalism as professional character, spirit or methods, and the standing, practice of methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur. Vending has long been viewed as...
