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A New Frontier – Healthy Food Marketing for Vending Machines

It’s a familiar scene. Late for her next meeting after skipping lunch, a working mom finds herself staring at the vending machine. Candy, chips and trail mixes with enough sugar to put her into a coma. Are these really the best choices?

The answer is often yes, but it doesn’t have to be.

According to a survey on snacking by the consumer-centric research experts at the Hartman Group, more than half of respondents stated healthy snack food and beverage options are important to them. And now, there are some new trends and players in the vending machine market who seem to get it. HUMAN Healthy Vending is one such player who is trying to provide the Whole Foods experience to the on-the-go eater. In their machines, you’ll likely find a SoyJoy bar rather than the traditional bag of chips.

But your brand doesn’t have to be confined to the health-specific vending machine to reach the healthy snacker. Here are a few trends that can help your brand stand out in the everyday vending machine:

  1. Mini-Meals – While some snackers may be looking to satisfy a craving or a sweet tooth, many are looking for what Hartman calls mini-meals. Still calling it a snack, consumers are actually eating multiple mini-meals throughout the day while on the go vs. sitting down to a full meal.

Smart brands have tuned into this behavior and have created mac and cheese vending cups and mini lasagna portions to go. The one thing they are missing- HEALTH! That’s why we love Farmer’s Fridge and their line of jarred salads and snacks.

  1. Sustained Energy – Most vending machines are lacking sources of balanced foods. Rather than the calorie-portioned serving of carbs that are sometimes positioned as the healthier option, brands could think outside the carb box for more energy sustaining options. When it comes to energy, consumers typically look to a mix of carbs, protein and healthy fats.

Epic bars are a great example of a brand who is doing this well, balancing the three benefits of protein, gluten-free and natural while providing an energy-sustaining snack.

  1. Diverse Beverages – From caffeine fixes to antioxidant boosts, the health minded consumer is looking for many of the same beverages as the average consumer, but with a twist. Instead of coffee – it’s now fair-trade certified coffee. Instead of tea, it’s matcha. Instead of spring water, Alkaline water or coconut water are growing in popularity. Functional beverages are alive and well and what the actively healthy consumer is looking for (and willing to pay for).

Bottom line, if vending machines in Singapore can serve live crabs, I think we can find a way to go beyond a bag of chips.

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Marketing “Healthy” Food– It’s Not One Size Fits All

You can ask 20 people on the street what “healthy” means and you are likely to get 20 different answers. Especially when it comes to food. Between fad diets, changing food pyramids and the new “conscious lifestyle”, it’s enough to make your head spin—especially marketers embarking on uncharted territory.

So what’s a marketer to do when they set out to put a healthy spin on their brand?

Start with their target.

For many, “ Healthy” may have an elusive and ever changing definition in the marketplace but the intentions behind it are often best communicated when they suggest ‘choosing to be better’ for the right reason. Start there and you can evolve with the trends.

Very recently, I read that “food sensitivities are a rich-people problem” but now it feels that health and wellness have officially gone mainstream. Today you can find gluten-free, dairy-free pancake mix in the average grocery store. You can find an iced tea with 15 added benefits/ingredients at the quickie mart at the gas station.

But despite going mainstream, there’s still no clear-cut definition, which is why marketers have to know their specific target’s definition of feelings around “healthy.” Does it mean organic? The omission of gluten or dairy? Is it a way of life that simply involves choosing the dye-free mac’n cheese for their family over another? Is it locally sourced food? Or all of the above?

Figuring out what your consumer wants is the brands first mission. And here are a few more tips to follow as you grow with your core consumer and expand to bring in more and more conscious eaters:

  1. Meet your consumers where they’re at: Everyone has a different definition of health – from simply adding veggies or “going organic”, to going extreme meat-gluten-dairy-free. The idea is to know what your consumers’ think healthy means and how they feel about living that way.   If to them ‘everything in moderation is their mantra’ than you don’t need to go any further right now.
  1. Stay true to your brand: I am personally excited about the move to organic, but if you’re a McDonalds it’s not believable. However, choosing to ‘do better’ with “hormone free” protein can go a long way with your consumer base and maybe even pull in a few more health-conscious consumers while you’re at it!
  1. Don’t preach: While thinking and striving to be healthier has gone mainstream – behavior and health/obesity statistics tell another story. The point is, helping people choose better goes further than reminding them of what they’re not doing or spreading guilt.
  1. Don’t fake it. If you’re brand is eager to get into the “healthy” space but you’re having a hard time figuring out how your chewy chocolate chip cookies qualify, don’t try to trick your consumers. They’ll know! Instead, find what is true about your brand already or what changes can be made to demonstrate the brands Point of View on the matter – e.g. locally sourced chocolate, organic ingredients, hand-made, etc.

*Click on the following link to more about how mainstream “healthy food” has become,

Global healthy foods to hit $1 trillion in 2017: Report

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Marketing Healthy Food is About More than the Food

When you market healthy food to families, you’re selling more than just the biological benefits of eating well; you’re selling independence, a connection with cultural traditions, and stronger family ties.

Let’s consider family A, who decides it would just be easier to pick up the phone and order out on any given Tuesday night. Easy.

Family B plans and cooks a meal from scratch, making a conscious decision to share the experience, leave the TV off, and to enjoy each other’s company. Suddenly the processes of chopping, steaming, and sautéing mean so much more.

Chances are the process of eating the actual meal together took about the same amount of time in each case. But common sense tells us that Family B has the healthier, tastier, and more fulfilling evening.

Breaking bread at the dinner table is where, as the food writer Michael Pollan puts it, “we teach our children the manners they need to get along in society. We teach them how to share. To take turns. To argue without fighting and insulting other people. They learn the art of adult conversation.” Out of the simple family meal, he says, is born democracy.

That’s the power of cooking, eating, and sharing the experience of healthy food with those around you.

And that’s why health food companies that are already doing it should be saluted, for helping to repair an American way of eating that has had obvious detrimental effects on our waistlines, medical bills, and family dynamics.

But if you’re a brand struggling to promote your food to the public, what are you not doing that you could be doing? What are the successful brands doing right, and how can you learn to do it as well? Perhaps a most basic way to make deep connections to families is to use the families in your communications.

Whether you’re in the traditional media or connecting through the ever-expanding possibilities in the digital sphere, make sure the families that you are marketing to know that you are about more than just the food. Make sure they know that in addition to food that is healthy and delicious, the conscious act of eating together is the real benefit. Remind them that your brand knows what life is really about—family. Even if others in America have temporarily forgotten.