Evolution of Coffee Vending Machines

The evolution of coffee vending machine can be traced back to 1946. Majority of these vending machines were installed in factories and other work places. In the earlier days, only one type of coffee was made available through these machines. As time passed by, a bean grinder was included in these vending machines. In the year 1991, different types of coffee were made available through these machines. Some of these varieties included cappuccino, espresso and various other flavored varieties.

Basic Features of Coffee Vending Machines

This vending machine is a coin operated machine which automatically dispenses paper cups filled with different types of coffee. The machine includes a money slot to deposit a specific amount of cash. There are machines which accept credit cards but majority of the vending machines accept cash or coins. These machines are large and rectangular in size. It includes a small space in the middle of the machine with a platform to dispense the cup and the coffee when a button is pressed on the machine.

Today there are different types of coffee vending machines. Some of these machines dispense food, water and various other types of snacks such as candy bars and potato chips.

These vending machines are particularly useful in hospitals, railway stations and school campuses as it can be used to dispense hot beverages when shops and cafeterias are closed.

There are different types of coffee drinks such as the cappuccino which is made from milk foam. This drink which was originated in Italy became one of the most popular coffee drinks in the world. The cafe latte is another type of drink which contains more milk than the regular cappuccino. The espresso is another type of coffee drink which contains a substantial amount of caffeine.

Flavored coffee drinks can also be obtained from coffee vending machines. Vanilla roast is added to the regular coffee to create delicious drinks. There are various other types of flavors such as raspberry, hazelnut, almond, mint, orange and so forth. Apart from these varieties, there are coffee drinks which include alcohol which is known as the Irish coffee.

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Growing Popularity of Vending Machines

Vending machines belong to the automatic retailing industry. A coin-operated vending machine dispenses products and services to the consumers without the intervention of a cashier. The concept is more than 120 years old in the countries like England and the USA.

In India and other countries from Asia, the potential of vending machines is still untapped. On the other hand, Japan from the same continent has highest number of vending machines per capita. Growth in sale of vending machines as well as the products and services sold through them is inescapable.

Products Vended
Canned beverages are the most popular products vended by the vending machines. In fact 40 percent of the machine vended products are the canned beverages. Snacks have a share of 19 percent while there are 8 percent vending machines that vend hot beverages. A vending machine dispensing hot beverages can be found at shopping malls, restaurants and offices. Remaining 33 percent consists of other categories of products and services vended through machines. The most common example of vending machine is coffee vending machine which is in huge demand by corporate sector and domestic level as well.

Innovations in Automatic Vending
The popularity of vending machines has inspired the manufacturers to come up with innovative ideas. In Japan, one can see machines vending fresh lobsters, eggs, umbrellas as well as the unusual products like lingerie. A fortune vending machine can be found in the premises of various temples in the country. Telemetry based and cashless vending machines have added new dimensions to the automatic retailing industry.

Recently, Intel devised an intelligent vending machine with a huge touch screen that displays information about the products dispensed by it. A Core 2 Duo chip powers this machine and it features facial recognition software as well. Innovations are keeping the wheel of popularity rolling for these machines.

Vending in Developing Nations
Countries like India are fast recognizing the use of vending machines for various purposes. The industry is expected to attain the worth of $1 billion by 2012 in India. Some of the reasons that contribute towards the vending machine success in these countries are:

• Changing lifestyle
• Changing eating and drinking habits
• Economic growth that has led to increase in consumerism
• Rise in corporate culture and
• Automatic retailing being a fairly new industry

Vending machines are going places and they are gaining significance in the lives of people around the globe.

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