Healthy vending machines in Melbourne
Smart Market installs free, fully managed smart fridges across Melbourne sites, stocked with ready meals, Greek yoghurt, protein bars, water and low sugar drinks alongside the usual snacks. Your site pays nothing.
What "healthy vending" usually means, and what it means here
Plenty of machines are advertised as healthy vending. Most are a standard snack machine with a few muesli bars added and a green sticker on the front.
A Smart Market range is built the other way around. Meals, dairy, protein and hydration are in the core of the range, not bolted on at the edge, and the balance of the range is set with the site rather than handed down.
What the healthier side of the range holds
- Real meals. My Muscle Chef ready meals, noodle and rice meals, soups and curries.
- Protein. Protein bars, protein shakes, Musclenation and similar.
- Dairy. Chobani Greek yoghurt pouches and tubs.
- Hydration. Still and sparkling water, coconut water, low and no sugar drinks.
- Better snacks. Popcorn, grain snacks, nuts and trail mixes.
Alongside these, most sites also stock familiar soft drinks, chocolate and chips. A range people actually use is a range that gets restocked often, which is what keeps the fresh lines fresh.
Why a coil machine cannot do this and a smart fridge can
Three physical reasons, none of them about intent:
Refrigeration. Most coil machines are not properly refrigerated. Yoghurt, ready meals and fresh product need consistent temperature, which a glass-front refrigerated cabinet holds and monitors remotely.
The drop. A coil machine dispenses by pushing product off a spiral so it falls. A meal tray does not survive that. Neither does a yoghurt pouch.
Shape. Coils fit a narrow range of package sizes. Shelves do not care. That is why a smart fridge can carry a hundred products where a coil machine carries forty, and why the extra sixty tend to be the fresh ones.
There is a fourth reason that is about behaviour rather than physics. In a smart fridge everything sits at eye level behind glass. People pick things up, read the label and put them back. That does not happen at a coil machine, and it changes what people buy.
Skewing the range healthier
Every site's range is built with the site and reviewed after around sixty days on what actually sold. If you want the mix weighted further towards healthier options, say so and we will build it that way.
For health services, education, council and recreation sites, the Victorian Healthy Choices framework classifies food and drinks green, amber and red. We can build a range weighted to green and amber and report on the split, and we work with sites that have their own nutrition policy to meet it.
“My company recently had a Smart Market installed and are loving the new variety of products, as well as the tech of this new machine.”
Tahli Murray, Dutt Transport
Is your site a fit? Around 70 or more people on site on a typical day, whether that's staff, members or visitors, and nothing convenient to eat or drink close by. Machines come in a range of sizes and formats, so get in touch and we'll work out the right one for your space.
Frequently asked questions
Are healthy vending machines actually healthy?
It depends entirely on what is stocked. A Smart Market range carries genuine meals, yoghurt, protein and low sugar drinks in the core of the range, and the balance between those and everyday snacks is set with each site.
Can we get a vending machine with only healthy options?
Yes. The range is built with each site and can be weighted as far towards healthier lines as you want.
Do healthier products sell in a vending machine?
Meals and drinks sell well. Yoghurt and protein sell steadily. We review the mix after around sixty days at every site and adjust based on what your people actually bought, rather than on assumptions.
Can you meet the Victorian Healthy Choices guidelines?
We can build a range weighted to the green and amber categories and report on the split, and we work with sites that have their own nutrition policy to meet it.
Does a healthier range cost more?
Not to your site. The machine, install, stocking and servicing are free regardless of the range.