Our Most Common Vending Machines
What do you think about when you picture a vending machine? Perhaps you see a glass-front drink machine, where rows of beverages are on display and a picker cup moves from a hydraulic system to fetch your drink. Maybe you picture a snack machine with dozens of coils that spin to satisfy your cravings. Or maybe you see a combination of both, where you see snacks at the top and drinks at the bottom.
You might recognize this intro from our article about vending machines that you didn’t know existed. Well in this article, we wanted to step back and actually talk about the most common types of vending machines that you will most likely have seen in your day to day life. From your stackers to your glass fronts, as well as snack, combo, and cold food machines, we’ll go over in detail the types of vending machines that we provide at Snack Kingdom Vending so you can go in confidently at which machines you would like in your area.
Why Different Types of Vending Machines?
We at Snack Kingdom Vending use different types of vending machines because of the wide variety of snacks, drinks, and food that we provide. We like to categorize these products as such:
Snacks (chips, chocolates, pastries)
Pop cans
Other drinks
Each vending machine we provide is specifically catered to vending out these products. Each machine has a purpose, and we have optimized our machine selection such that every product we have on hand can be displayed and purchased properly. With all that out of the way, let’s look at the typical machines that we offer.
Glass Front Drink Machines
The glass front drink machine is pretty self explanatory: it has a large glass door on the front for the user to see what they want to buy. Upon choosing what to buy, a robotic arm comes up, grabs the drink, and brings it to a chute for the customer to pick up and enjoy. It is a very advanced and frankly entertaining piece of vending equipment that we have in our arsenal.
These machines, especially in the 21st century, are now a staple in modern vending. When you think of a vending machine, this is probably something you would picture when you think of high end.
The beauty about the glass front drink machines is its modernity. It was made for the 21st century, technologically and aesthetically driven society. It also allows for a wider variety of bottle shapes in the machine to be on display as well. Of course you will have your pop cans and bottles in here, but you are also able to place in water bottles, Gatorades, other energy drinks, and many other different drink selections you can think of. The glass front drink machine is our standard when it comes to our placements, and when you are standing in front of one, you’ll understand why.
Pop Stackers
Arguably the most popular vending machine item is pop. Coca-colas, Sprites, Diet Cokes, you name it. Because of its popularity, we dedicate a decent amount of our space to the pop stacker vending machine.
A more vintage model, the pop stackers can only house, as you may have guessed, pop cans. It is so aptly named due to having the pop cans stacked upon each other within the vending machine, relying on timing of the rotating cuff to drop the cans, and gravity alone, to deliver the drink to the customer. The stack would then replenish the next few vends. This allows for higher volumes to be placed in the machine at once.
There are many locations that prefer just the cooling and refreshing taste of pop, so they run through that more and more. Once determining that a location much prefers pop over any other drink, we would then offer to place a pop stacker over a glass front.
Snack Machines
On the other side of the vending spectrum, we have our snacks: chips, chocolates, candies, and pastries. Obviously they can’t go in stackers or glass fronts, so they have their own dedicated snack vending machine built specifically for them.
Snack machines are the other iconic looking vending machine that you may have stumbled across. Think of those machines with the chip bags and chocolates in the front. These machines are the ones that use motors and coils to spin and push the product out onto the delivery chute There isn’t much variance when it comes to snack machines; they almost always function with that machinery in mind: motors, coils, and gravity. But when something works as well as snack machines do in terms of delivering products to the user, then why reinvent the wheel?
Combination (Combo) Machines
Just as the name suggests, the combo machine is a combination between snack and drink vending machines. It is one single machine that allows users to purchase both snacks and drinks in one. In a typical setup, you would see chips, chocolates, and other snacks towards the top half of the machines, with the heavier, more fragile drinks towards the bottom.
The perk of using the combo machine comes down to usage and more importantly, space. Because of all the product variety a combo machine can hold, some locations would sacrifice the volume or amount that a combo vending machine can hold to accommodate for the limited space that they may have.
Final Thoughts
The ideal workplace vending setup depends on many variables, such as products wanted, space, and projected daily usage of the machines themselves. Depending on the answers to these variables, one location can have a very different setup than another. A well-managed vending setup can set you up right away as to being a very welcomed amenity to your location.
Whether you want 1 machine to over 10, we at Snack Kingdom Vending can recommend a vending solution that keeps your team satisfied while requiring virtually no effort from your staff. Contact Snack Kingdom Vending today for a free consultation and discover how the right vending setup can become a valuable amenity for your workplace.
