YoNaturals Vending Machines

Has anyone seen one of these YoNaturals vending machines?

When I first saw something online about these vending machines, which carry only natural and organic snacks, I felt really excited.  I hate when you find yourself in a pinch and need to get a snack from a vending machine and your choices are only candy bars, pop, and maybe something from Frito Lay.  

However, vending machines tend to be pretty wasteful- according Madison Gas and Electric, vending machines consume 2,500 to 4,400 kWh of energy per year, and since they generate a lot of heat, they are going to add to the cooling load of spaces they occupy.  Energy Star does have some certified vending machines, which save more than 1,700 kWh/year.

I am curious if YoNaturals vending machines are energy efficient models, and if they buy carbon credits/purchase wind energy/etc- are they really a green vending machine, or do they just offer greener snacks?  I sent them an email to find out, so I'll let you know what they report back.

I do not think we will see the downfall of vending machines anytime soon, so if there is a company that does it right, then I am all for that.  Here's a picture from their site of some of their snacks- a complete list can be found here.  Notice the Fiji water, lurking behind the Stacy's chips...(cue the Jaws music) 

I wonder if public schools will go to something like this as they are forced to get rid of junk food.  I think it would be great.

 agreed!!  vending machines may be wasteful (in terms of energy consumption), but if they're gonna be around anyway i'd much rather have these alternatives!

Couldn't agree more with that...when I think back to what I ate in school, I really can't believe it. Many days was garlic pizza topped with ranch dressing, a side of fries, and a honey bun (cinnamon roll thing)...crazy.

I don't really think Vitamin Water is the solution, but there are some other options that would be WAY better.

We appreciate the support for our cause, and thank you for the posting! We know that vending doesn't necessarily have the best reputation (nor should it the way it has been handled), and we are endevouring to change that.

To answer the question in the post:

Whether we are considered officially "green" or not is not certain. Here's what we can tell you for sure:

- Our machines are set by their distributors to be turned off during non-peak vending hours

- The machines are equipped with programs that "learn" when they should be put into energy saving modes based on usage of that machine in its particular location

- Only the portions of the machine that need refrigeration (based on the products) are refrigerated.

- Long story short, our machines use less energy than a refrigerator

We also of course only provide natural and organic snacks and drinks (with the exception of our health club machines, which serve a different demographic). As well, schools have stricter nutritional guidelines, so only those snacks that meet or exceed those guidelines are offered in schools.

Hope that helps answer any questions. Once again, we appreciate the support!

Definitely a step in the right direction both in terms of energy efficiency and helping people eat a bit healthier even if they are on the run.  I'm a big fan of Stacy's pita chips.

The only thing is...(and yes, we've talked about it before)...Fiji water?  Oooff...bottled water gets me in general, but Fiji...why spend so much energy on such a tiny little bottle of water?

 This is really exciting! I would LOVE to have one of these vending machines at my work. I mean, there could definitely be some tailoring in the product department. The Vitamin Water and Fiji water are far from ideal but also better than a Coke or Pepsi, for sure.

I am also a huge fan of Stacy's pita chips. yum.

I want to see more of these (actually, I haven't seen one yet) in workplaces and schools. That would be so great!

What a novel idea, anyway. Why didn't I think of that?

Kirbs,

Keep in mind, that image is a VERY small sampling of our product line. We have over 500 natural and organic snacks and drinks to choose from, and more every day. For example, we agree that Vitamin Water still has too much sugar; nonetheless, some people prefer it. It's still better than a soda, which has a lot more sugar and is typically a less healthy version, such as high fructose corn syrup.

Yes- I cannot believe the crap I ate for lunch every day....which had nothing to do with vending machines!!  I think when we have kids, they will be bringing a cold lunch 3-4 days per week...

YoNaturals-

I think the steps your company have been taking to conserve energy are wonderful.

Out of curiousity- when companies place vending machines in businesses/schools/etc, do the vending companies usually have to pay for their power, or does the building hosting the machine usually pay?  Depending on who's paying the bill, that can be a powerful incentive to make things more energy effient.

No one replied to my email to your company- do you know if your company uses Energy Star models or purchases carbon credits or wind energy?

I wish YoNaturals the best of luck- I would really love to see some of your machines around the Twin Cities....

I want to commend YoNaturals for coming on here and addressing our posts.  I think that shows a lot about the company.  Its nice to know they are going to "the source" for ideas and comments on their products.

Nitedreamer,

The location provides the outlet and pays for the power, and no we do not use EnergyStar. We have included our own technology in the machines (as mentioned above) in order to reduce the energy footprint as much as possible. We are aware of the importance of the green movement, and are continually attempting to improve our ability to run these machines as efficiently as possible.

Thanks for the comments and well wishes!

Best,

YoNaturals

The vending machine Yo Naturals has talked about sounds similar in concept to what Coca-Cola has done with their line up.  They have implemented energy saving technology that learns what times of day to cool more than others, etc.  Don't think they are actually EnergyStar certified either - they started their program around the last Olympic games in China.  They save gobs of energy over the older units.  If I remember right, they plan on deploying 40,000 of the newer type of units - and retireing many of the old.  Of course this has nothing to do with the product being "soda" and served in plastic bottles... LOL

This unit from Yo Naturals looks awsome - wish my hospital had one (or three) placed around.  We could definately use such snack choices!