The weather may have been a bit hit and miss this summer, but thankfully there has been plenty going on in the industry to keep us occupied! A date change for Nivex; the announcement of a star studded line up of keynote speakers and presenters for this year’s Leisure Industry Week (LIW) and Caffè Culture’s winning of a highly coveted industry award should help you work an appetite for the August issue!

Due to a Manchester United fixture change, NIVEX 2007 is now scheduled for Tuesday 20th November.

The star-studded line-up of keynote speakers and presenters for this year’s Leisure Industry Week (LIW) and National Licensed Business Show (NLBS) education programmes reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the UK leisure and licensed on-trade industries and represents an unparalleled fount of knowledge and informed opinion that will enable visitors to the NEC (25-27 September) to be more effective and efficient in their day-to-day roles - while being entertained in style!

A group of dynamic and forward-looking independent operators, together with representatives of National Associations (from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK) gathered in Milan to exchange views on current and future challenges in vending operations. They decided to set up the European Operators’ Forum to meet twice a year and focus on vending operators’ business issues. The event (22 June) was hosted by CONFIDA, the Italian Association in cooperation with the EVA.

Eu’Vend has become one of the leading trade fairs for the vending industry in Europe - and this year for the first time, Eu’Vend 2007 will include kiosk systems, materials for installation and equipping, water cooler concepts and the movement towards the provision of more organic products.

Equip’hotel 2008, the international exhibition for restaurant, hotel, café, bar and catering sectors, will be held from Saturday 15 November to Wednesday 19 November 2008, at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

Caffè Culture, the UK’s only event specifically catering for the needs of the café and coffee bar market, has won the award for Best Launch Trade Show at the 2007 Association of Exhibition Organiser’s (AEO) Awards.

Fresh RM, the exhibition company with an extensive portfolio of shows including Hotelympia, Hospitality and ScotHot, is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Marketing Manager, Jon Squire. Jon joins Fresh RM with an extensive knowledge and experience of exhibitions following previous roles with Emap Public Sector and CMP.

Crane Merchandising Systems (CMS) has appointed Clive Gazzard to the position of Technical Training Manager. Having previously held senior technical roles at CMS and Stentorfield, Clive joins the business from Wittern Ltd.

Tetley, the Nation’s favourite tea, is pleased to announce the appointment of Hamish Clarke as their new Brand Manager for Out Of Home.

From South Africa, Hamish joins Tetley after previous roles with British American Tobacco and Cadbury and will be responsible for Tetley’s development and marketing plans in the OOH sector as well as looking to further increase their share of the market.

Peter Wilkes of Wilkes Vending Services Ltd has been elected National President of the Year 2007, of the Plastic Industry’s Golf Society. The Society has been in existence for 74 years with sections covering the whole of the UK.

It is believed that Peter is the first President to be elected from the Automatic Vending Industry.

AG Barr launches £1m advertising campaign for its Strathmore spring water brand to increase consumer appeal.

Ethics and environment focus for ‘Sustainable growth’ Global Bottled Water Congress on 12-14 September 2007.

Britvic, Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Dairy Crest and Nestlé are among nine leading UK manufacturers to sign voluntary agreement to reduce packaging waste.

In Cup Plus, the company behind the revolutionary drinks vending system, is expanding its London based manufacturing facility fourfold to cope with increased demands. The company makes the highly acclaimed Xen-550 drinks vending system which delivers quality drinks through a design that features unrivalled reliability.

Rising interest rates are bad news for homeowners - but they could be a lifesaver for some businesses, according to leading commercial analysts Plimsoll Publishing.

On the 21st June, Hospitality Action, the industry Benevolent organisation ‘kicked off’ an exciting Question of Support event at the new Wembley Stadium and raised over £82,000 for the charity. Question of Support is a new event in the Hospitality Action Fundraising calendar and is one of the biggest HA fundraising events this year, second only to the Hospitality Action Ball in October.

Jekyll Electronic Technology, one of the UK’s leading providers of industrial telemetry solutions is now part of the IMC Group Ltd. Formed by the amalgamation of Jekyll Electronic Technology, its sister company Lamerholm Electronics Ltd and Hanwell Instruments the IMC Group now offers a broad range of off the shelf and bespoke solutions.

In its second year, the California Raisin Healthy Caterer of the Year Award has been a huge success, with school caterers sending in entries from all over the UK. Sunderland City Council were selected due to their strategy and planning within schools to help provide healthy meals for pupils.

An intelligent online service, which identifies suitable spare parts when customers place an order, has been launched by N&W.

The new service gives customers complete control over ordering spares, and is geared towards making the process as streamlined as possible.

Crane Merchandising Systems (CMS) has announced that it is to begin the process of integrating its UK businesses at the end of June resulting in the merger of the Automatic Products International (API) operation based in Runcorn into the CMS operation based in Chippenham. This development follows the acquisition of API by Crane Co. last year and the move of API manufacturing to the CMS facility in St Louis in the USA.

The In Cup Plus XEN-550 is a break through in beverage vending, a system which dispenses excellent drinks that are hygienic and environmentally friendly.

The California Raisin Administrative Committee is proud to announce that the unanimous winner of the 2007 California Raisins Innovation Award is the York-based company Rosedale Farm Products for their range of sausages containing California Raisins. The sausage range consists of Duck with Port & California Raisins and Chicken with Rhubarb & California Raisin.

An accounts clerk and a drinks buyer at Bowmer and Kirkland in Belper, Derbyshire, have both won £1,000 of holiday vouchers. Elaine Barton entered into the prize draw after collecting her morning cup of refreshing PG Tips tea from the KLIX® drinks vending machine at her office. As part of the promotion Jacqui Vayro, who is responsible for running the machine, also won £1,000 of holiday vouchers.

The UK soft drinks market sustained healthy growth in 2006, up 3.6% in volume terms to 14,345 million litres and a retail sales value of £12,860 million, according to the 2007 UK Soft Drinks report from leading drinks consultancy Zenith International. Soaring temperatures last July boosted the market, which saw consumption per person reach 237 litres overall during the year.

Jofemar UK has announced that it has set up a workshop at its Lichfield offices to handle the repair and refurbishment for the UK and Ireland of all models of Jofemar coin mechanisms, validators and electronic payment systems, including the Company’s best selling J2000 changegiver and the latest validator, the T15. Parent Company, Jofemar S.A. is also a leading Spanish manufacturer of vending machines and merchandisers.

International food and grocery expert IGD has unveiled three key performance indicators to help the industry minimise the environmental impact of transporting food and groceries. Speaking at IGD’s Sustainable Distribution Conference in central London, Mr Sykes urged the industry to systematically measure three indicators:

1 - July 1st 2007 is date for full implementation of WEEE.

2 - Any importer of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is classified as a “Producer” of WEEE and as such has to:

a) Register with The Environmental Agency, and

b) Employ a Government Approved Compliance Agency to administer the WEEE process.

An impressive line-up of industry experts will be speaking at the new RWM 07 Conferences, taking place at the Recycling and Waste Management exhibition at the Birmingham NEC, from 11 to 13 September.

Introduced in response to visitor demand, the six sector-specific conferences will provide practical, in-depth information on specific waste sectors, as well as looking at the wider implications of waste strategies and new technologies.

Britvic has become the first soft drinks company to have signed up to support WRAP (Waste & Resource Action Programme) achieve its waste minimisation objectives as outlined in the Courtauld Commitment.

Vending has to get innovative to get its share of the growing Out of Home market, not only will this keep you ahead of the pack but it is the driver behind increasing value.

It’s quite unbelievable that even in a world where we have up to the minute news telling of horrific suffering in the developing countries that so many companies refuse to behave more ethically towards the producers of their goods.

As consumers continue to have a thirst for knowledge where products are grown, Barry Callebaut are working very closely with the Fairtrade Foundation to source its Fairtrade cocoa from the Conacado cooperative in the Dominican Republic and the Fairtrade white cane sugar through Oxfam Fairtrade and one of its producers Cooperativa Cañera de San Ramón in Costa Rica.

In 2004, UK Automatic Vending Supplies were the first registered supplier of In-Cup drinks under the Fairtrade logo. Now as Eurogran UK, the company are continuing to strongly support the growing demand for ethically sourced products. Arabica Freeze Dried Coffee and Hot Chocolate Drink are available in both In-Cup and bagged ingredients options. Leaf Tea is also provided In-Cup only. Cups on all products show the Fairtrade logo to promote the profile.

Doves Farm Foods is one of only a few companies to offer snacks with both Fairtrade and organic certification. Commitment to quality, healthy choices is encapsulated with the recent launch of Belgian Chocolate Waffles and Spelt Wholegrain Waffles.

VI - How did it all begin for Fairtrade Vending?

FV - The Fairtrade Vending concept originally started under Eagle Vending Services Ltd five years ago. At that time no one in the vending industry was really promoting Fairtrade. We had produced a range of Fairtrade incup drinks to service several Co-op contracts but there weren’t any Fairtrade branded in-cup machines on the market, so I approached the Fairtrade Foundation with an idea to launch Fairtrade branded hot drinks machines and got their approval.

Titan Enterprises, suppliers of low cost flow measurement sensors to the beverage vending and cellar management industry, have announced their latest development for bar or cellar soft drink dispensing systems - the standalone METRA-SUM ‘Post Mix’ syrup totaliser.

Zuka, a new British brand, has launched two exciting products designed to capitalise on the smoking ban in England and to reignite consumer interest in snuff. The products have huge commercial potential, with profit margins up to three times greater than those on cigarettes. Zuka represents an opportunity for vendors to turn the smoking ban into a positive event with its innovative products.

How many times have you stumbled across a vending machine in a hotel corridor or lobby and feasted your eyes upon your favourite chocolate bar, only to find that you don't have the change? Imagine a world then where you could pay using your room key and settle on departure. Chances are, you might even treat yourself to a drink too! Becci Knowles reports...

Imagine the scenario. It’s Monday morning, you stumble into the office, tired, hungry and dreading the day ahead, having rolled out of bed that all-too-vital 10 minutes late. A breakfast would most certainly have helped but, time not allowing, a coffee had to suffice. Sound familiar? In a situation like this, a well-stocked vending machine would no doubt have had you reaching for your wallet long before switching the computer on… Becci Knowles reports on a common problem!

Drinks vending in the work environment has come a long way since the early days of delivering tea and coffee without the need for a kettle or cup. New technology and innovations, increased efficiency and reliable of machines, and consumer expectations and demand have fuelled the growth of the drinks vending market over the past few years and widely extended the choice and variety of drinks options available.

What was once a vandalised utility found on station platforms has now become a staple piece of equipment in offices the length and breadth of the country. Vending machines are by no means a new invention; the ancient Greeks are reported to have invented the first coin operated vending machine in 215BC which dispensed a fixed amount of holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell onto a pan attached to a lever.

Barilla, the world’s largest pasta manufacturer, is delighted to announce their recent British Frozen Food Federation awards. Their Girasole al Gorgonzola won both Best Catering Product of the Year and the Gold Award for Best New Meat-Free/ Vegetarian Product and come as great recognition of their launch into the UK foodservice market.

Veriplast International has launched a new PS Water Cup. The new cup offers great clarity and value and is made from fully recyclable PS material.

The PS cup, which can be recycled through the Save-a-Cup scheme, is available in two popular sizes: 7oz and 9oz. The 9oz variant is designed to help operators take advantage of the trend to trade up in terms of size in water cups.

Jofemar UK has announced the launch of Gourmet, a new hot snacks machine with an integral microwave. Based on the Company’s successful Multiplus snack machine, the powerful microwave module allows it to dispense hot food such as ready meals, pizzas, hot sandwiches and other “fresh from the oven” foodstuff.

Lavazza Coffee UK’s Office Coffee System (OCS) vending service has launched a new product into its already impressive and popular portfolio of vending machines. With its manual ‘Espresso Point’ Matinee machine and ‘BLUE’ LB1000 and LB2200 machines serving the small office vending market, Lavazza has launched a new larger table top machine, the semiautomatic Colibri.

In response to consumer demand for a healthier cold drink option, market-leading drinks systems provider KLIX® has launched a brand new cranberry juice drink made with real cranberries and packed with antioxidants and vitamin C.

The Castus 100% natural Fruit Bars have gained in distribution and popularity since The Health Education Trust (HET) approved the Castus Fruit Bars for the REAL CHOICE initiative raising the standard of school food and drink vending provision and reflecting best practice. “Castus fruit bars are a valuable example of the type of products we are pleased to see being developed for healthy vending”, says Joe Harvey, Director, HET*. (* www.healthedtrust.com)

Aero Bubbly Hot Chocolate… it’s chocolatey and creamy tasting, extremely bubbly and now… it’s In-Cup. For the FIRST time, the brand, which has revolutionised the hot chocolate market over the past 18 months in both the retail and out of home markets, is available to the vending sector. With its trademark chocolatey bubbly appearance and texture, the Aero Bubbly Hot Chocolate In-Cup has all the same characteristics as the instant variety, which has achieved great success - for example a staggering 18.7% market share of cash’n’carry sector since launch.

DED introduce the MGTA series of printer mechanisms from Axiohm. The fastest printer in its class, printing at a speed of 180mm per second, the MGTA features a heavy duty guillotine cutter and works within a wide range of operating temperatures enabling its improved paper feeding function to be taken advantage of in banking, gaming, transportation, ticketing and vending applications.