Here's why vending machines are making such a big comeback in Toronto
It's no secret that nostalgia is making a huge comeback, and what's more nostalgic than walking down the street to a vending machine and grabbing yourself a tasty treat?
All across Toronto, people are noticing vending machines are making a comeback in a big way. Not just the usual soda and candy bar dispensers either but vending machines that serve gourmet options including coffee, pizza, cake and other sweet treats.
With contactless food delivery and pickup becoming the norm over the past year, more people have embraced vending machines as an option for satisfying a craving.
"I think for people it's a really unique experience. It's combining a couple things using an e-commerce style platform that people are familiar with and then providing the immediate gratification of receiving the item on the spot," Chris Zownir CEO of Express Retail Group Inc. told blogTO.
"I think people are becoming more comfortable doing transactions that don't involve a person."
For a lot of people however, vending machines have a negative association with memories of dirty cups of coffee or stale desserts collected from school yard or hockey arena vending machines filling their mind.
Those in the industry suggest that the vending machine experience has completely changed, and those who try the new services are almost always pleasantly surprised.
"The hardest part has been getting people to try it out. It's doubly hard that we don't have a person out front engaging with the customers. It's become making the experience not a vending experience," Brad Ford, GM of Coffee at RC Coffee told blogTO.
"Vending is a bad word in our culture."
Many businesses that operate their own vending machines have begun considering the idea of subscription based services, being able to pay a few dollars a month to collect your coffee or snack of choice any time you want.
It's no secret that residents of Toronto love trying new things, and while the idea of a vending machine may not be new, these high-quality services have certainly put them in a whole new light.
