We work some of the longest hours in Europe. Yet, for many office workers even lunch consists of a quick sandwich eaten with one hand, whilst tapping endlessly at a keyboard with the other. Caught up in the rat race, a good diet often goes out of the window Monday to Friday - which is where or rather why, a wellstocked vending machine should come in.

I asked Neil Swan, who works for a large engineering corporation in Kent what was available in his office. “We have two vending machines situated at the bottom of the tower we work in. There are three towers here, all which are served by the two machines. There are a number of other machines located around the site (it’s huge!), usually situated in the hallways between open-plan offices.

“In the two machines located in the towers, one stocks items such as rolls, cookies and muffins and the other crisps, chocolate bars sweets and cans of drink.” Pretty standard then; I asked if it was popular: “The machines are very popular and are used frequently by the 400 people that work here in the towers. There’s usually at least another person there whenever I go to the machines.”

The choices struck me as limited in Neil’s office, so I asked what he would like to see more of in the machines: “I would like to see a wider selection of chocolate (right now it’s just Mars and Dairy Milk) and bags of sweets such as Skittles and mints, because they are the things I usually go to the shop for.” Clearly the average busy office worker would appreciate being saved a walk to the shop! And Neil speaks for most of his office when he says a little junk food is ‘just the ticket’ to an afternoon boost!

Healthy eating

Andy Ramsbottom, a sports journalist for a regional newspaper offered another point of view: “We have two vending machines in the office kitchen. One is a drinks machine with Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dr Pepper, orange juice and cranberry juice. The other has crisps, chocolate bars, sweets and salted peanuts.”

Andy said the vending machines in his office were NOT particularly well received by staff, and when asked what he would like to see more of, his answer was a good indication as to why: “Fruit. It seems unfair that if you are hungry and want a snack you have to pick an unhealthy option. Apples and bananas would be much better.”

There are a number of companies out there that are adopting a greater sense of responsibility towards the health of employees - but more need to follow suit. Websites like www.safeandhealthyworking.com stress the importance of healthier food and beverage options being readily available at work, in addition to the importance of drinking water facilities throughout the work site.

Justin Wride from The Healthy Snack Company, explained the struggle that companies like his faced however: “We had some machines in corporate venues but they did not go down very well, unfortunately. Many offices have kitchens, canteens, delicatessens or snack shops nearby - sometimes it does just not work. Operators need to be careful to strike a balance, to look at all the properties of a venue and site/stock the machine accordingly.”

The Vending Industry has always been good at keeping its finger on the pulse by responding to consumer trends. But to a certain degree, the industry itself needs to set those trends and to educate the consumer in the process. What came first - the chicken or the egg? As an industry we should be even more proactive - by all means listen to the consumer, but where possible, pre-empt him too.

Fairtrade

New research released in October last year, revealed that despite growing support for Fairtrade in the UK, only 17% of workers said their companies were currently serving Fairtrade products at work. Almost two out of five workers (38%) said they thought their company SHOULD make products carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark available to staff at work.

The YouGov survey was commissioned by the Fairtrade Foundation to coincide with the launch of the organisation’s major new Fairtrade at Work campaign calling on workplaces to switch to offering Fairtrade products such as tea, coffee, fruit juice, sugar and biscuits to employees in the staff canteen, in meetings or through corporate catering.

A company that supports Fairtrade instantly appears more caring towards its employees - so it’s a good move all round!

Brands getting it right

Richard Marris, market director for KLIX® in the UK offered his thoughts on the subject: “KLIX is committed to delivering what the modern consumer demands. In order to do this we need to incorporate research outcomes into our overall strategic plans and provide innovative solutions. We recently launched a brand new cranberry juice drink in response to research which highlighted that the Still Juice Drink category continues to experience significant growth in the UK.”

Richard continued: “KLIX recognises that consumers are increasingly conscious of what they are putting into their bodies but are not prepared to compromise on quality - the juice drink is made with real cranberries and is packed with antioxidants and Vitamin C. It also has superior taste, is made from fresh BRITA filter water and is served perfectly, every time.”

www.klix.com

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---