Andy Porter has become AVA Chairman, in succession to retiring Chairman, Barry Bennett.

Following a restructuring at Mars Drinks, Barry has left the company and accordingly he has resigned his post as AVA Chairman. He had completed 18 months of his term, which included the strong endorsement by members for the AVA Quality System.

Managing Director of Aimia Foods, Rob Unsworth, recently completed the New York Marathon with four colleagues, raising £12,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Online visitor registration is now open for AVEX 2009, the UK's premier vending and water exhibition, taking place on June 10th-11th at Hall One of the NEC Birmingham.

Nestlé Confectionery has launched one of its biggest confectionery promotions - for its number one impulse brand KIT KAT®. This exclusive promotion, with a prize fund of £1 million, gives consumers the chance to not only win but choose their very own ‘Perfect Break'.

We regret that incorrect address details for Allpure Filters in the UK were published in the January 2009 issue of this magazine.

Gatorade, claimed to be the world's most researched sports drink, is to help consumers Gear Up for 2009 with £1000 of sports kit to give away every day in a new on-pack promotion.

Cadbury has relaunched Cadbury Highlights, the low calorie drinking chocolate1, with a new recipe and packaging design, saying that the new recipe will have a more chocolatey taste, as consumer insight into low calorie hot beverages has shown that consumers are treating low calorie hot beverages as a chocolate substitute.

New certificates will be issued to AVA members in 2009, confirming both that the company is an AVA member and that it holds AVA Quality System accreditation.

New from Nestlé MultiSnack, Toffee Crisp Clusters is a unique and profitable treat, ideal for vending operators looking to cash in on the growing demand for sharing bags.

Lavazza continues to expand its OCS/Vending Division in the UK and the Republic of Ireland with the appointment of Julie Riding as Business Development Manager, reporting to the OCS/Vending Sales & Marketing Manager, Silvio Zaccareo.

The start of 2009 marks another step in the Kenco Coffee Company's journey to offer ethically sourced product across its entire range with the move to source 100 per cent of Kenco-branded Kenco Singles filter coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM farms.

A rugged pushbutton, which features a unique mechanism to protect it against harsh use and vandalism, has been developed by EAO. Behind the lens of the Series 56 pushbutton is a snap-action switching system that protects itself from damage. It guarantees that a stable force is always applied to the switch unit independent of the one exerted on the lens. Even if the pushbutton is struck hard, the switching unit is protected.

A first for the UK market, the launch of new Twinings Swiss Chocolate Drink brings together Twinings' unique blending expertise and the talents of Swiss chocolatiers for what Twinings describes as ‘the ultimate in chocolate indulgence'.

GVS reports that over the past year it has taken on more than 50 new employees, rounding off the year with the employment of its first-ever female technician, Katherine Gradwell.

The trade fair committee of EuVend, the German international vending trade fair, has decided to bring forward the event by two weeks. EuVend will now take place from September 10th-12th 2009. The committee says that the reason for the is that gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for computer games, which will take place for the first time in Cologne in 2009, has been brought forward.

There are signs of some optimistic buzz centred around AVEX. Talking with the team at the Automatic Vending Association, AVEX 2009 is shaping up to be a great exhibition - effective, worthwhile, value for money with a topping of added fun.

Abbeychart Refurbishing and Manufacturing is a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Abbeychart, suppliers to the vending industry. The new company will be operating from its new 5000 sq ft additional, purpose-built unit near Faringdon, Oxfordshire.

It's not going away any time soon ... The British Chambers of Commerce recently reported a ‘frightening deterioration in the UK economic situation' - with the worst figures on record for both manufacturing and services since its series of the surveys began in 1989.

The problematic and much-publicised subject of vending in schools is calming down as the new regulations become bedded in and, albeit reluctantly in most cases, accepted.

Vending in schools is much healthier than it was two years ago, but that hasn't compromised the variety of choice available. In fact, comparing the food available now with the old standards - chocolate, sweets and crisps - there is much more on offer today. Fresh fruit, sandwiches, yoghurt, salads, seeds and nuts - there are plenty of healthy options for children to choose from. As well as promoting a healthy lifestyle, cutting out vending machine snacks that were high in fat, sugar and salt has left room for foods that benefit kids' brains as well as their bodies.

With younger consumers in the vending sector specifically in mind, leading UK charity water brand, Thirsty Planet, has been launched in a new bottle format. The 500ml bottle is now available with a sportscap which should generate new listings according to Paul Martin, Managing Director of parent company, Waterbrands.

Westomatic, among the leaders in healthy vending, has seen strong growth in the healthy vending opportunities in schools and universities in the last 12 months, with many schools reviewing their vending service in order to offer healthier drinks, snacks and food to their pupils and staff.

However Pythonesque it may sound, this phrase really sums up an innovative approach to encouraging teenagers in secondary schools to get involved, via the vending machine, with a new fizzy drink brand that (a) they've almost certainly never heard of and (b) is good, no very good, for them.

Lavazza, (which is said, with some justification to be Italy's favourite coffee), is committed to providing a quality coffee experience, whether it's at work, in the home, or away from home.

When it comes to vending beverages (particularly the hot variety) the cup is the packaging. It pays a critical role in the overall vended offer.

The growth in consumption of cappuccino and latte style drinks in the high street has been mirrored in the vending market. This has led to a growth in paper vending cup usage to create a more premium beverage offering. Huhtamaki, for example, has developed a 12oz paper-vending cup, which is a great way of boosting profit, and allows customers to upsize their choice of hot drink without having to leave their building.

Solo Cup Europe has launched Bare^TM, the industry's most exten­sive range of single-use products made from alterna­tive re­sources. The Bare philo­sophy brings together the most sustain­able and environmen­tally-friendly solu­tions includ­ing recycled, compost­able and post-con­sumer materials.

With 47 per cent of the population visiting a coffee shop at least once a month*, consumer expectations continue to grow, with higher expectations for other coffee occasions including vending.

A new system, claimed to be unique, has been developed by OmniVend, a supplier and operator of a network of electronic vending systems, that allows multiple products to be ‘vended' (sold by unattended kiosk). Products that can be sold by this method include mobile phone top-up, international call credit, mobile phone content (games/ringtones/ logos/text alerts), redeemable gift vouchers and coupons, cinema/concert tickets, travel tickets, bill pay and cash collection.

EAO, the expert partner for Human Machine Interfaces, is displaying a selection of custom-built control panels at an online presentation: www.eao.com/cp. The presentation includes panels which have been developed for a diverse range of applications.

Designed with flexibility and versatility in mind, the NP3511-JP and NP3411-JB kiosk printers from DED both feature a large universal paper holder, making them the ideal solution for almost any kiosk application from ATM's to ticketing and gaming to lottery and information kiosks. Special features on the NP3511-JP include a paper retraction presenter and a 200mm per second print speed, the NP3411-JB offers the advantage of a bezel and print speeds of 150mm per second.

Omron Electronic Components is now offering versatile touch sensor technology in fully custom form, allowing the creation of rotary and linear slider controls as well as simple on-off switches. Designers using Omron B6TS technology can now select different styles of control for each of up to 16 available channels, allowing one chip to manage a combination of rotary, slider and on-off switches. The B6TS is offered in four, eight and 16-channel versions, with each channel being able to manage an independent control surface. This service is subject to a minimum order quantity. The company has also introduced a new, high performance version of its eight-channel touch sensor. The new B6TS-08LF features higher sensitivity and faster response than the existing version. The existing eight-channel device is still available.

Just when the UK vending industry has got to grips with the tricky subjects of high street coffee shops and vending in schools, and is preparing itself for recession, could another problem be festering on the other side of the Atlantic?

Will the vending industry suffer from the current global recession anticipated in many other economic sectors and, if so, how bad will it get? Or does vending have specific assets which could help the industry fare better than other sectors?