Introduction

Healthy Snacks are becoming more and more of a thing in the vending world.

Every year, we see more locations ask for them. In some cases, the locations will just want a few healthy items. In others, the location will demand EVERYTHING be healthy choices.

We see this especially in Recreation Centres and Hospitals, although it’s becoming more and more of a thing everywhere. Offices are especially growing in demand for them.

On paper, it sounds like a great idea. We should absolutely support people trying to make healthier choices however we can.

Here’s the thing though:

As a vending machine business, going the healthy route results in a loss of business.

In this article, we’re going to give 5 reasons why offering only healthy snacks is a waste of money, and why you should steer clear of any location that demands everything in your machines be healthy.

1. Healthy Snacks have lower profit margins

There’s a wide range of healthy snacks you can effectively put into your snack machines.

You can expect to see sales, but don’t expect to see a lot of profit for your efforts.

The reason?

Healthy snacks are more expensive than their non-healthy counterparts.

At the time of writing this, a regular bag of Lays or Doritos can be reasonably sold for $1.50. But for vegetable chips from Terra for example, you would have to price them to AT LEAST $2.50 each to get the same amount of profit.

These leaves you with two options:

1. Price the healthy versions of snacks higher while constantly explaining to customers why they need to pay more for the same snack
2. Price them the same as non-healthy snacks and sacrifice profit on the item for customer satisfaction

Most of the time at Lucky Vending, we go with option #2 because despite not being a fan of healthy snack options, we do support people trying to better themselves however that may be.

The sales from our other items usually more than covers any sacrifice to profit margins anyway.

However, if you don’t make a lot of sales from your vending machines, you might want to opt for #1.

Which brings us to our next point…

2. Healthy Snacks sell poorly

You might think that because your customers say they want healthier vending options, they would jump at the opportunity to buy a Granola bar if you put it in your snack machines.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Here’s what’s typically happens:

1. You announce that you’re going to put healthier alternatives to regular snacks in your vending machines. The people at the location rejoice.
2. On your next restock, you swap out some of your regular snacks for healthy snacks. Again the people at the location rejoice and word spreads that the vending machine has healthy snacks now.
3. Over the next couple of weeks, you find yourself restocking them heavily as they see consistent use.
4. A month passes and you barely need to restock them anymore.
5. Another month passes and you have to restock everything; not because they’re sold out, but because they’re so scarcely bought that the product has gone stale.

You see, the concept of healthy snacking is no different from people who start going to the gym in January. When people are motivated to make positive changes to their life, it reflects in everything they do. However, when that motivation is gone, people go back to their old ways.

This is one of the biggest reasons we advise against a full healthy snack program. It always sounds good in theory, but results in sunken costs.

3. Healthy Snacks Have Shorter Shelf Life

If you plan on having a machine full of healthy snacks, you better be ready to make more frequent visits.

Reason?

Most of them last roughly half as long as non-healthy snacks.

A bag of peanuts will last about a month in your snack machine until you have to completely replace it.

A bag of chips on the other hand can last over 3 months.

This is mainly due to healthy snacks containing natural ingredients that are more prone to going bad.

Natural is obviously good… but in the context of snacks you’re selling to customers in order to make a living… it’s another challenge in a business pursuit that can already be challenging.

4. Healthy Snacks aren’t really healthy

Here’s something that’s as sad as it is shocking:

The snacks you eat when you’re trying to make better choices can be just as bad for you as the junk food you’re trying to avoid.

If you don’t believe us…

Next time you come across a granola bar, or even specific brands of veggies chips, take a look at the Nutrition Facts.

Sure they can have a lot of vitamins and nutrients, but there’s another thing they can have a lot of:

Sugar.

Most of these so-called “healthy snacks” are full of it.

Granola bars can have as much as 15g of sugar in a package. Even Beef Jerky can have as much as 21g of sugar in a full package. Considering that a can of Coke has about 39g of sugar, is this really all that healthy at the end of the day?

Truth is, most “healthy snacks” are loaded with Calories and Sugar. They’re also highly processed. So while they do in fact have more nutrients than say a Snickers bar, they can still be just as fattening and detrimental to your health.

Unless you’re straight up putting Apples and Celery Sticks in your snack machines, your healthy snack options will never truly be “healthy”.

It’s actually sad when you consider the intentions behind ordering healthy snacks. 

Most people aren’t necessarily choosing a Clif Bar over a Snickers Bar because they prefer them that much - they’re doing it because they want to satisfy a craving while still being health conscious. For them to unknowingly consume something with roughly the same level of sugar content thinking they’re making a good choice is not only misleading, but problematic as well.

5. Healthy Snacks Can Cost You An Account

Here’s a situation that arises more often than vendors would like to admit:

An establishment requests vending services. You gladly oblige and put machines on-site.

After a while (usually a year or more), the location decides to get health-conscious and demands you get rid of anything that’s not low-carb or gluten-free.

In order to satisfy the customer, you reluctantly take out the Lays, Doritos, and Snickers. You replace it with things like Veggie Straws, Clif Bars, and Honey Roasted Peanuts.

Months pass and people are barely using the machine. They complain about your snack selection to HR.

Then one day, another vendor calls the location you’re servicing. The location says they already have a vending service, but the people are unsatisfied with them. The vendor asks to take a look at your machines and the location obliges.

The vendor, seeing that your machine is full of nothing but healthy snacks, immediately pounces on this glaring issue. They offer a wider variety of snacks that are hits with the general population but not currently offered by your vending machines. Things like Lays, Doritos, and Snickers.

The location is immediately sold on the vendor’s proposition. Next thing you know, you get a call from them asking you to remove your machines as you’re being replaced.

This is a setback of focusing on healthy snacks that doesn’t get talked about.

And the worst part is, it’s usually because you’re trying to provide good service by meeting the customers’ demands!

By focusing on healthy snacks in your vending machines, you severely alienate potential customers who are non health-conscious from using them. And by alienating potential customers, you increase the dissatisfaction with your services to the point where people will replace you with no hesitation.

It doesn’t matter if it was the LOCATION that made you do it.

They usually won’t remember that. 

The only thing standing out in their minds is that people are not enjoying your machines.

If you run into a situation where you get asked to fill your machines with healthy snacks only to end up with nobody buying them, your best bet is to have a talk with the decision makers. Let them know that ever since you made the switch, sales have dropped. Most of the time, they’re going to appreciate that you tried making the building happy and encourage you to put regular snacks back in your machines.

If they insist you continue with strictly healthy snacks though, you’re better off severing ties with the location.

Not only is it going to hurt your bottom line, but sooner or later they’re probably going to replace you anyways.

Conclusion

We hope you found this post on Healthy Snacks informative!

It doesn’t follow the conventional advice you see all over Google, but we’re speaking from our own personal experience along with the experience of our peers in the vending machine business.

Eating Healthy is great, and so are Healthy Snacks. But a location that wants you to offer solely Healthy Snacks is nothing but trouble.