At Nutrivend, we believe that everyone deserves access to healthy and nutritious food, no matter where they work. That's why we're always looking for new ways to expand our vending machine services into more workplaces. And what better way to do that than to start with the fictional workplaces that need it most?
From the high-stress offices of Wernham-Hogg to the dangerous world of Springfield Nuclear Energy, there are many fictional workplaces where employees could benefit from having a Nutrivend vending machine nearby. Here are our top 10 picks - see if you can spot the machine in the images!
1. Castle Black, Game of Thrones (Defence):
Demanding Physical Work and Long Hours
The Game of Thrones Wall is a 700-foot tall, 300-foot thick fortification that is 300 miles and spans Westeros' northern border. It is defended by The Night's Watch at Castle Black.
With their force spending long hours on their feet, needing to be always on the alert, and certainly being a physically demanding job – the Night’s Watch require nutritious sustenance to keep their strength to defend against enemies. This sounds like the perfect spot for a snack and drinks combi vending machine stocked with hydrating drinks for focus, protein bars to keep the Night’s Watch strength up, and maybe the odd energy drink for a caffeine boost.
2. Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the Simpsons (Manufacturing)
Long Hours, Poor Cafeteria Food Choices
The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) is a two-unit pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant owned by Mr. Burns. The engineers that work there (including the very well-known Homer Simpson) carry out long shifts involving monitoring, assessing and improving the performance and reliability of plant systems and components.
We also often see Homer snacking – but his choices tend to be poor! Donuts, sweets and biscuits are often seen on screen as Homer eats his way through shifts at the plant. A healthy vending machine placed at a high footfall point in the famous workplace would be perfect to help Homer, and the rest of the SNPP workforce make food choices that would encourage their energy levels, and be lower in sugar too.
3. Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Mad Men (Office Space)
Poor work/life balance, poor dietary choices, morale boosting alternatives to alcohol and cigarettes.
The famous Mad Men offices are a boozed-up workplace of second-hand smoke clouds. With working lunches that turn into 3-day benders, one thing this workplace could certainly do with, is a vending machine to try to keep staff on-site for as long as possible! They would also benefit from lots of hydration drinks, water, and energy drinks to keep staff focussed and hydrated after spending 3 days ‘entertaining’ their clients. Not to mention Peggy Olsen and the copywriting team, who could certainly benefit from a 24-hour shop on-site with the amount of late office nights and weekends they spend at work.
4. The Death Star, Star Wars (Remote Military Base)
Large footfall, lots of focus and energy needed.
The ultimate weapon and a huge spherical battle station, the population of the Death Star includes 1.7 million military personnel, 400,000 maintenance droids, and 250,000 civilians. That’s a lot of people to keep fuelled in outer space! Healthy options would be paramount here to keep the military personnel in top physical condition, so sports nutrition vending machines from Nutrivend would be ideal for busy elite naval staff who are constantly on-the-go.
5. Monsters Incorporated (Factory, Energy Industry)
Large footfall, long hours, only one cafeteria
Monsters, Inc. (abbreviated as MI) is the energy-producing factory in the 2001 Disney Pixar animated film of the same name. The company is the only place which supplies all the energy for the city of Monstropolis. The factory is an immense facility equipped to fulfil the needs of its employees – but only has one cafeteria in the building. Scaring takes places in chambers called "Scare Floors", where the monsters cross over into the human world with the doors. Wouldn’t it be handy if there was also a vending machine on each of these floors, equipped to meet the demanding physical work these monsters are carrying out?
6. Wernham Hog, The Office (Paper Industry)
Low Morale, workplace wellbeing initiative
Wernham Hogg Paper Merchants is a fictional paper company in the BBC television series ‘The Office’. The Berkshire branch of Wernham Hogg, where "life is stationary," serves as the main setting for the series.
With a staff headcount of between 20-30, this office certainly needs some workplace wellbeing initiatives to help boost morale. We also think the co-managing director, Neil Godwin, as a health-conscious character, would be totally on-board with providing healthier snack options to help his staff make healthier choices.
7. Underworld, Coronation Street (Manufacturing)
Workplace wellbeing, focus and energy needed, productivity main priority
Underworld is the local textiles factory at 14 Coronation Street, currently owned by Carla Barlow. The factory produces lingerie for women. A major source of employment for the Weatherfield area, the company is the perfect place to house a Nutrivend vending machine, equipped with plenty of snacks to keep its staff hydrated, energised and productive.
8. Fawlty Towers (Hospitality)
Staff Morale, Convenience, Hands off solution
Fawlty Towers is a hotel run by Basil Fawlty and his wife, Sybil. With only a few staff members to keep a lot of hotel guests happy, an efficient, conveniently placed fully managed vending machine would certainly keep Basil slightly happier (mainly as this would mean he wouldn’t have to serve the guests himself). We would, however, need to make our fault reporting process VERY clear to the Fawlty’s, as we wouldn’t want Mr Fawlty’s temper getting the better of him and ruining one of the machines if a product got jammed!
9. Globo Gym, Dodgeball (Gym and fitness centre)
Sports Nutrition Enthusiasts
The successful gym from the hit movie, Dodgeball, was founded by ‘White Goodman’ and is next door to the small independent operation ‘Average Joes’ Next door. Both facilities would benefit from a Nutrivend vending machine while the Average Joe’s and the Purple Cobra’s train for the ADAA Championship.
10. Pont-Y-Pandy Firestation, Fireman Sam (Emergency Services)
Busy staff, long shifts, focus and lots of energy needed
The Pontypandy Fire Station is a large full-time fire station based in the small village of Pontypandy. It mainly covers Pontypandy and the surrounding forestry. Although we know that Elvis is partial to cooking the rest of his firefighter colleagues a meal when they have downtime, we think a vending machine would be perfect for a quick pick-me-up snack or energy drink for Penny, Sam and the gang if they’re on a busy shift.
Do you think your workplace could benefit from a vending machine?
These are fun examples, but hopefully we've shown you just how versatile our offering is, and how a wide range of industries could benefit from a healthy on-the-go solution in their facilities. If you're interested in finding out more about the complete sports nutrition solution that Nutrivend can offer your business, get in touch today by filling out a website contact form (the widget on the bottom right of this screen) or by emailing hello@nutrivend.co.uk.
