Over winter break, East’s old vending machines company, Healthy Vending, decided to sell their business. This caused new vending machines to be installed throughout all of the SMSD schools. Healthy Vending interviewed several companies and finally decided to sell their business to the Allied Refreshment Company, known as ARC.
Out of all the companies, Healthy Vending felt that ARC would be the best fit for East’s community because they would provide snacks for students that are both nutritious and tasty. Principal McKinney interviewed Joe Strata, owner of ARC, explaining the high bar that Healthy Vending set and his hope of maintaining that.
McKinney is aiming for the new machines to still provide suitable customer service and similar snacks to Healthy Vending.
“One of the deals after the sale was complete was that the commitment to our students and their health would remain,” Principal McKinney said.
Since the new vending machines have been implemented, lines at the vending machines have grown and students are now taking more advantage of the vending machines.
“I don’t have a problem with the new [vending machines],” sophomore Lauren Packer said. “I am still able to get my Nutri-Grain Bar, so it doesn’t make much of a difference to me.”
However, last Thursday, Chloë Kerwin and a couple of her friends encountered an expired diet tea. After drinking a portion of the tea, she realized that the expiration date was April 11. This caused some students to be skeptical of purchasing drinks out of the vending machines.
“It’s kinda gross because there are chemicals in there that go bad,” senior Chloë Kerwin said. “I really liked the Healthy Vending machines and after finding the expired tea, it just kinda makes me think, were these in storage? Do people check these? Or are there more expired ones in there?”
Overall, despite the expiration incident, students are still content with the new machines and are looking forward to trying the new snacks that the new vending machines have to offer.
“I like that there is more of a variety and I like that there is now separate vending machines for drinks and for snacks,” sophomore Isabelle Cunningham said. “There still are reduced fat snacks, but now I could also get Fritos if I wanted.”