A well-known Australian dietitian recently profiled by the Daily Mail says it's possible for even the busiest of people to improve nutrition. Despite having little time to cook and being surrounded by vending machines and takeaway spots, people who really want to eat better can do so just by making a few simple changes. We don't disagree with such assertions, but we do believe vending could play a bigger role in healthy eating if nutritional vending machines had a greater variety of products.
Don't misunderstand; our nutritional vending machines give consumers plenty of great choices. But the products our machines dispense don't come anywhere close to meeting the recommendations of nutritionist Susie Burrell, who suggests people concentrate on getting adequate amounts of iron, omega-3 fats, dietary fibre, vitamin D, and magnesium every day.
In theory, all the nutrients Burrell recommends for good daily nutrition could be packed into an energy bar. But it's not practical. That energy bar would be prohibitively large to begin with. More importantly, an energy bar does not constitute a meal. Consumers are not going to eat three or four energy bars throughout the day just to get those nutrients. What we need from manufacturers is a larger variety of nutritional products that, when combined, meet daily nutritional needs.
Whatever the Market Demands
As a UK leader in nutritional vending machines, we know that our industry is very much market-driven. Whatever the market demands is what it gets. This tells us that manufacturers would probably increase the range of products they offer if they knew customers wanted them. So where do we go from here?
A blog post we published last time talked about a new vegan vending machine that recently made its appearance on a busy street in Melbourne. It's just one machine for now, but it could become dozens of machines if the prototype does well. That's the kind of thing we need to be looking at here.
Someone needs to be the first to step up with a new range of products released just to gauge consumer interest. As with anything in business, tapping into consumer demand often requires taking a few risks along the way. Sometimes you just don't know what consumers want until you give them something to try.
We believe it is possible for the average UK worker to improve daily nutrition to better line up with Burrell's recommendations. People just need the motivation and resources to do so. We also believe that nutritional vending machines can play an important role here. If we could get a broader range of products to offer consumers, we might also be able to move our machines beyond gyms and leisure centres to include the average workplace as well.
Until that day comes, Nutrivend will continue to do what we've always done: provide nutritional vending machines to clients who want to give their patrons healthier options. We would be happy to help design a vending solution for your establishment.
Sources:
Daily Mail – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4983274/The-key-five-nutrients-need-stay-healthy-work.html
