East To Receive Healthy Vending Machines

Vending machines stocked with Cliff Bars, Naked Juice, Popchips and yogurt will be in East’s hallways the week of Oct. 28. The new machines will contain healthier options than the current ones and will replace all existing machines except for the soda machine in the teachers lounge. Each vending machine will be somewhat specialized; for example, the one outside the gym will have Muscle Milk, protein bars and sports drinks.

The company providing East with healthy vending is Helping Unite Mankind And Nutrition (HUMAN) Healthy Vending. The owners of the franchise, Molly Morrison and Reggie Britt, are both locals to the Kansas City area. The company’s mission is to make healthy food more convenient than junk food.

“So much of what you have on the go is bad for you,” Morrison said.  “You have fast food or vending machines which are usually just junk. These are 100 percent healthy, organic products.”

East contacted HUMAN Healthy Vending after researching healthy vending options. They decided on the company for the benefit of them being local to get products replaced faster than the previous company.

“With our previous vending company we would run out of things and we would call to replace them and they wouldn’t show up,” Principal John McKinney said. “These folks, because they live in town, said ‘call us and we will come over’, so it’s just that local business owner [that we like].”

In June, the USDA passed the Smart Snacks in School legislation. It will require all schools to provide healthy snacks starting July 1, 2014. The guidelines limit the amount of fat, sodium, calories and sugar in items sold in vending machines and says items must be whole grain.

East is taking part in a pilot program HUMAN is doing with the new machines in a few local schools to help them comply with the legislation the USDA passed.

According to Principal John McKinney the machines will be beneficial to the school,  by offering 25 percent of the gross profit back to the school. McKinney also expects profits to increase because of the increase in percent of sales given back to the school (versus the previous company). Unlike the current vending machines, students will be able to buy from these machines all day long.

“I will like them because it’ll give us nice, healthy snacking options during the school day,” sophomore Katie Vahle said.

Students will be able to sample products during lunch on Oct. 23 to help the company determine  which items students will buy the most of. The machines are computerized to ensure nothing expired is sold, and they alert the company when anything is running low. The machines have an elevator system instead of the traditional coils to prevent anything in glass bottles like the Izzes from breaking. They also take credit cards.

Prices of items are expected to be fairly similar to the current vending machines’ prices of about $1 or $2. Specialty items such as Naked Juice, high-end protein bars and Muscle Milk may be closer to $3.

“We looked at the food in our vending machines and decided we could do better,” Principal McKinney said. “We researched our options and it brought us right back home to Molly.”