Dutt Transport: upgrading from a traditional vending machine

Dutt Transport, a Melbourne transport and logistics operator with around 70 staff across office and warehouse, upgraded from a traditional vending machine to a Smart Market smart fridge in August 2026.

The site

Dutt Transport runs a combined head office and warehouse operation in Melbourne with roughly 70 people on site, split evenly between front of office and warehouse floor.

It is the kind of site that falls into a gap: big enough to need something on site, far enough from anything convenient that a quick run is not practical, and with warehouse staff on breaks too short to leave.

What was already there

Dutt already had a vending machine on site and were not entirely happy with it. Like a lot of traditional machines, it came with some of the familiar frustrations: product occasionally getting stuck, coins not always coming back, and a range limited to what sits on a spiral at room temperature.

It is a common starting point. The question is rarely "should we have vending". It is usually whether the machine already there is doing much for the site.

What a smart fridge does differently

The Smart Market unit uses tap-and-go entry, AI product recognition and weight sensors. You tap a card, open the door, take what you want, close it, and get charged for exactly what left the shelf.

That changes a few things at once:

• Nothing gets stuck, because product comes off a shelf by hand rather than off a spiral.
• No coins, because it is fully cashless. Change your mind and put the item back before closing the door, and you are not charged.
• Fewer things to go wrong, with far fewer moving parts, and machine health monitored remotely.
• Shelves refilled before they run empty, with stock levels monitored remotely rather than checked on a visit.

And the range opened up

Because the whole cabinet is refrigerated, the range could be much wider than before, which is where the meals came in. The range at Dutt was built for a mixed office and warehouse workforce:

• Meals: My Muscle Chef ready meals, noodle and rice meals.
• Healthier options: Chobani Greek yoghurt, protein bars, water and sparkling water, low and no sugar drinks.
• Everyday: soft drinks, iced coffee, energy drinks, chips, chocolate.

Warehouse staff on a short break still buy an energy drink and a chocolate bar. What changed is that there is now a real option for the person who wants one, and before the upgrade there was not.

Pricing

Shelf prices are benchmarked against convenience store pricing. The commitment is that the machine on site is not more expensive than the shop down the road, which is the objection every host raises.

The result

The machine went in during August 2026 and was live the same day. Staff feedback has centred on the range and on the technology, which are the two things that changed.

Tahli Murray, who managed the project on the Dutt side, left this review:

Keeping it right

The range gets reviewed against actual sales over the first sixty days, and facings are adjusted from there. That is the normal process at every site, and it is how a range ends up matching what a particular site actually wants rather than what was assumed at install.

Is your site like this one?

Dutt is a good template for a fit: around 70 or more people on site, a mix of office and floor staff, break times too short to leave, and nothing convenient close by. If that describes your site, get in touch and we will work out which machine format suits.