Huhtamaki's newly-launched bio-coated paper cup for hot, cold and vended drinks (VI March 2008) has scooped the 'Disposables' category of the Caterer and Hotelkeeper Equipment & Supplies Excellence Awards 2008.

The members of the European Point-of-use Drinking Water Association (EPDWA or Pou Water) have decided to partner AVA again in organizing the next AVEX. To be known as ‘AVEX 2009 - International Vending and Water Exhibition' the show will be returning to Hall 1 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June.

Azkoyen Industrial SA, a leading European manufacturer of automatic vending machines has purchased 100 per cent of the share capital of Coffetek Ltd and its subsidiary Wittern UK Ltd.

The AVA Charity Group has organised another ‘Scoring for Macmillan' North versus South football match, to take place on Thursday 1st May at Rushden & Diamonds Football Club.

Abbeychart is organising a free family day on Saturday 26th April, to include a trip on the famous North Yorkshire Moors Railway steam train. Anyone involved in the vending, water, catering and food service industries, is welcome.

Crane Merchandising Systems (CMS) has appointed Simon Heath (pictured) to the position of UK Sales Director.

United Biscuits UK (UBUK), manufacturer of biscuits and bagged snacks, has announced a significant development to its core range of Hula Hoops.

Aimia Foods has launched a new website to provide its customers with better access to key product information, market insight and trends.

Marco Beverage Systems, one of Europe's leading designers and manufacturers of beverage making equipment, has launched a new energy efficient water boiler range, the Ecoboiler.

Beverage machine manufacturer, N&W, is to re-brand its top selling, free standing beverage machine, the Astro.

Drinks systems provider KLIX, part of the Mars Drinks Group, has unveiled its unique ‘7+' Drinks menu aimed at providing a bespoke solution for the varying demands of the modern workplace and the needs of a diverse audience.

National brewer and distributor, Carlsberg UK has awarded 7 Day Catering the contract to manage the catering and hospitality services at their sites in Northampton and Birmingham, to include vended service, a restaurant, hospitality, supply and operations.

Bravilor Bonamat has unveiled a new, upgraded version of its successful Bolero beverage machine. Features of the new, improved Bolero XL423, include LED menu display; larger dispense buttons; separate hot water dispense; new, improved coin operation; improved non-stick mixing system; new canister locking mechanism; and cold water dispense option.

The Kenco Coffee Company has announced the launch of PG tips tea with Rainforest Alliance Certification across its Kenco In-Cup, Kenco Singles and Kenco FreshSeal ranges.

On holiday in Colombia recently, AVS Chief Executive Brian Tustain found himself in the northern port city of Cartegna, and took the opportunity to visit the port facilities and quality control operations of the Federation National de Colombia, (FNC) which represents the coffee growers of Colombia.

Aimia Foods, the hot and cold drinks specialist, supported last month's Fairtrade Fortnight by showcasing its Percol range - a 100 per cent Colombian coffee made with Fairtrade Arabica beans, designed to offer a complete solution for vending and foodservice operators. Aimia provided operators with a free point of sale kit, including Percol-branded A3 coffee posters, A3 chocolate posters, wobblers and table talkers. This kit provided operators with the tools they required to ensure Percol stood out from other brands, while educating customers of the importance of Fairtrade products.

Every 25 minutes, someone breaks or fractures a bone at work according to the latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which recently held a  ‘Shattered Lives' campaign, to highlight the devastating consequences of simple slips, trips and falls in the workplace.

Nestlé Professional has announced the comeback of one of its most popular sweets. Blue Smarties has returned to join the ‘no artificial colours and flavours' Smarties line up. This anticipated comeback will benefit from a £1.5 million media support package including TV advertising.

Aimia Foods has launched a new range of Slazenger S1 hypotonic sports drinks, which help the body replace lost salts and fluids faster than isotonic sports drinks.  Formulated to aid both physical and mental performance, the drinks - in orange and mixed berry flavours - deliver excellent cash margins for vending operators, wholesalers and retailers through their competitive cost price and premium packaging.

Crane Merchandising Systems (CMS) has introduced the upgrade to the BevMax2 glass front merchandiser. BevMax3 has a variety of performance-improving design enhancements, including a new delivery system which allows products to slide (rather than fall) from the tray into the delivery cup. This is said to improve vend reliability, reduce product agitation and speed-up delivery time - now less than eight seconds from the top shelf!

Although I find it hard to believe in terms of the vending industry - well known for watching its pennies, and those of others - recent research by Globalexpense suggests that almost a quarter of the total paid out by companies in expenses last year resulted from false claims. That means some £1bn in phoney (sorry, incorrect) expense sheets.

Cashless vending, whether for students or the workplace has come a long way in the last few years, and today's cashless technology with reliable back office software is making life simpler for many operators.

With cashless payments, the clean, efficient and effective alternative to cash, more and more organisations are making the move towards a completely cashless facility. The advancing technology and the ease by which they can be integrated into an existing catering facility is allowing the caterer more choice and the opportunity to create a bespoke suit, specific to their requirements.

Jofemar UK has introduced two new additions to its range of cashless payment systems - the J130 and the J300 - which may be fitted to any brand of vending machine or merchandiser on the market.

Quintus Systems has installed its cashless payment system, EPnet, at the London offices of Shearman & Sterling, said to be Europe's largest corporate and commercial law firm. The appointment came about following a recommendation from contract caterer, Jill Bartlett & Company, which runs the staff restaurant and vending facilities on behalf of the law firm.

Despite consumers making active attempts to eat more healthily, the threat of obesity shows no sign of slowing down. Once confined to high income countries and households, obesity is now just as much of a problem as malnutrition in developing countries.

Machine operators and sites looking for healthy vending machines can take advantage of Vending Nutritionals' offer of £400 of free stock at retail prices for every healthy vending machine ordered from any of the leading machine manufacturers.

Machine operators and sites looking for healthy vending machines can take advantage of Vending Nutritionals' offer of £400 of free stock at retail prices for every healthy vending machine ordered from any of the leading machine manufacturers.

Health is a central question for today's food industries and it is now widely accepted that a healthy and varied diet must be a balanced one - without, of course, excluding the concept of pleasure. We need to ask what the declining consumption of cocoa and sugar means for our sector, particularly in the light of the removal of drinks vending machines from schools.

AVS ‘Equipment Supplier of the Year' Westomatic is reinforcing the concept of healthy vending with its ‘EatSmart' machine which promotes the benefits of a balanced diet through high-impact graphics incorporating the BDA's ‘Balance of Good Health' chart. Whilst the machine is seen in many educational establishments throughout the UK, its unique design is proving to have wider appeal with locations such as offices, leisure centres and hospitals taking interest.

Castus has become well known for its fruit bars, which have proved popular with children as lunch box and healthy snack items. Now, a completely new bar - Fruit Bite - has been launched in the UK, a fruit, nut and seed bar with a 'bite', produced exclusively with natural ingredients.

More and more of our customers are asking for healthier options within our snack and drink range and over the last few years we have sourced new products that offer a good alternative to traditional crisps, confectionery or sugary fizzy drinks.

With increased consumer awareness and concern about diet ever more apparent, increased government intervention is inevitable as the media and lobbyists continue to fuel the health debate. In response to this, it is time to be pro-active as an industry by providing healthier alternatives in hot beverage ingredients for vending machines.

"Busy lifestyles and hectic work schedules mean that snacking forms part of the daily diet for most people today," says Chris McDonough, Marketing and R&D Director of Müller® UK, the UK's leading yogurt manufacturer.

Upsilon has launched 5 a Day daily essentials, a blend of all the major vitamins, minerals and whole foods that are required for a healthy diet. The product consists of five tablets (Omega 3 gel, vegetable, fruit, multivitamin and mineral, vitamin C).

Where access security is an issue in the design of vending machines, the first step is to define the level of security needed in order to determine the most appropriate access solution. Matt Finn, Global Product Manager of engineered access solutions specialist Southco, explains how level of risk will guide the choice of access hardware.

Sielaff's Robimat 75 robotic glass-fronted can and bottle vending machine is being made available in three different versions with increasing levels of security features. The Robimat ‘Classic' is the entry-level model, while the ‘Comfort' and ‘Premium' versions offer enhanced security which will appeal to users and operators for sites where vandalism is an issue.

The Vending Corporation has launched a security door based around its BevMax 45 glass front bottle and can vendor.

N&W Global Vending is currently offering two machines which have been specifically developed for public spaces, which are at risk of vandalism. The Astro P (floor standing hot beverage machine), and the Sfera P (floor standing snack unit).

What, then, are the obstacles which are preventing 63 per cent of UK businesses from investing in low carbon-emission equipment? These may be summarised as: the difficulties in calculating a return on investment; perceived higher costs, and therefore affordability directly linked to an inability to associate costs to savings over time; perceived lack of product range - availability and appropriateness; and a cultural resistance, or lack of will among some firms to relate climate change to their particular business and its markets.

Automatic Retailing (Scotland) is helping the vending industry to go green with an energy saving innovation, Vend-Sense, which is a unique device that uses motion sensors to control a vending machine's energy consumption.

When it comes to the UK economy, the road ahead is shrouded in mist. For the best part of 10 years we've had an incredibly benign economy, both in the UK and for the large part, globally. But every sign seems to be pointing in the wrong direction; especially for growth, which is slowing, and prices, which are rising. Extreme episodes of this are referred to by economists as ‘stagflation' and the last time we had to deal with it was in the 1970s.

Successful industries thrive when they have a dynamic and forceful association, supporting them and ensuring that the government and other opinion formers are aware of the industry and its special issues.

As one of its core offerings, Vianet, the wireless telemetry systems specialist, provides devices to the vending industry which transmit data to and from wireless vending machine sites. It has solutions suited to both local operators looking to manage operations more efficiently and save costs, and to brands seeking to integrate point of purchase data into the planning process. These systems include both the hardware for extracting data from vending machines and the application software, which customers use to run their vending businesses.

Telit Wireless Solutions, a global leader in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, has launched a new addition to its GE product family, the GE863-PRO3 module. Equipped with two powerful microprocessors, this quad-band module is suited for a wide range of applications requiring high processing power.

2008 is to be a year of hard work, activity, and renewal - or, at least, that is what the Chinese say about the Year of the Rat!  The EVA started off with a new Executive Committee and new officers, while Arnaud van Amerongen, the new President, Hubert Boyer, Vice-President, and Michael Maurer, Treasurer, will be presiding over a highly charged agenda.

The UK's Mike Saltmarsh has been actively involved in a study to investigate the microbiology of a traditional style, hot beverage, vending machine over an extended period of time, providing a unique insight into the development of a microbial population within a new hot-drinks vending machine.

The EVA Independent Operators Forum will meet on April 11th/12th, hosted in Paris by the French Vending Association, NAVSA. Starting with an informal  meeting at a networking dinner in the Eiffel Tower, on April 11th, the independent operators will continue what was started last year in Italy: the exchange of experience and advice in the field of everyday challenges for operators.

The EVA has announced a new conference on payment in society today and the likely impact on vending. It is to take place in Brussels on Friday 12th September.

Putting together data on the vending industry, both market and consumer information, interpreting it and drawing some conclusions for the future of the industry, has always proved to be quite a challenge.

The next in the successful series of EurOps conferences will take place in Berlin on March 26th/27th 2009, and will focus on the future of the vending industry.

The Colombian Vending Association (Asovending Colombia) was established last year to communicate and encourage information and experience exchanges between members; promote international standards; inform on trends and assist in developing the vending industry.