1000 vending machines serving fresh food!!!
Luke Saunders and his company ‘Farmers Fridge’ is offering a healthier fresher option to the fast food shopper. Farmer Fridge has been installing vending machines that sell fresh and affordable meal options that customers can buy and eat while they are on the move.
The focus of Luke’s vision is the realm of fresh, affordable meal options, where Saunders’ company, Farmer’s Fridge, has been making strides for the past decade. Based in Chicago and employing around 300 individuals, the company is expanding its footprint into Cleveland, where it has swiftly established a presence in various locations over the past couple of months. These include ten units in hospitals, six at airports, one at Progressive Field, and retail sales at Costco.
According to Saunders, the Cleveland market could accommodate up to 100 additional machines within the next two years.
The company proudly boasts recognition from TV food personality Rachael Ray, who dubbed Farmer’s Fridge the “world’s smallest restaurant.” Ironically, this innovative culinary venture was born out of necessity while Saunders was a travelling salesman for a metal-finishing company. His weekly thousand-mile journeys often left him with limited food choices, primarily fast food or gas station sandwiches, unless he had the rare opportunity to stay near a grocery store for fresh produce. The core idea driving Saunders was the scarcity of accessible, delicious, and affordable fresh food, and he set out to make it more convenient for people.
With astute business planning and unwavering entrepreneurial spirit, Saunders transformed his concept of vending machines into a vehicle for delivering quality meals rather than just snacks.
Saunders articulated, “The vending machine is actually the most convenient form of food service. To put that in perspective, there are about 14,000 McDonald’s in the U.S., about 40,000 Subways, and 8 million vending machines. More people visit a vending machine daily than McDonald’s, which serves around 40 million people a day. So the idea was, ‘OK, the vending machine works.'”
However, Saunders identified a challenge in the form of a time lag between food production and delivery to the machines by some companies. His solution was to establish a distribution network.
He noted, “We decided that to really preserve the full shelf life of the product, we would make the food, we would deliver the food, and we would own the vending machine. I didn’t know how crazy that idea was.”
Saunders took the leap, securing a shared kitchen space in Chicago. In the early days, he remarked, “We had enough money for two vending machines.”
“So we set one up at a food court and one at a rest stop,” said Saunders, who originally hails from New Jersey. “And ultimately, you know, fast-forward 10 years, we have over 1,400 locations between fridges and retail. So we just crossed 1,000 fridges in the last few weeks. That’s places like airports, hospitals, universities.”
The company also has a retail component, with stores, stands, and cafeterias across the country. Saunders discovered that Costco customers typically prefer quick and convenient options that they can take home and enjoy later rather than preparing lunch.
“Our global goal is to make fresh, healthy food as accessible as a candy bar, which means adding many more locations to reach a million vending machines,” he emphasized.
Farmers Fridge typically begins its expansion within airport or hospital systems to ensure customer traffic density. The company also focuses on hiring drivers, setting up equipment, and maintaining service technicians to address any issues promptly.
The desired location is simply “anywhere there are people who are hungry,” according to Saunders.
“We call it a fridge,” he explained. “OK, so for the first seven or eight years, I actually really pushed back on calling it a vending machine because to me it was restaurant-quality food, and the idea of a vending machine would cheapen that.” However, in the end, he acknowledged that it’s, indeed, a vending machine.
The company’s transparent containers allow customers to visually assess the freshness of ingredients, and the focus is on whole foods, fruits, and vegetables. Their menu features key items like salads and bowls with various components, including couscous. Breakfast options encompass chia pudding and Greek yogurt, while sandwiches, wraps, and snacks like in-house made chips and guacamole are available. All of the company’s guacamole is crafted from whole avocados, and their pico de gallo contains no preservatives.
Food is prepared seven days a week in a fully equipped USDA kitchen, with an average shelf life of seven days per product. Napkins and plastic utensils are conveniently provided adjacent to the machine, and there’s even a designated area for recycling containers.
“Everything is built around the product,” Saunders emphasized. “So we actually prep the ingredients in the morning. They start at 4 or 5 a.m. They’re washing, chopping, shredding, cooking, and mixing. The assembly is handled by the next shift that arrives around 8. They use the raw materials prepared up to that point to create salads until six o’clock at night.”
To ensure the right products reach the right areas, Saunders and his team employ a cost-function algorithm, ensuring quick delivery from Chicago to Cleveland within 10 to 12 hours.
The ordering process is straightforward: customers can tap a screen, browse the menu, and make their selection. Most items are priced under $10, with an average cost of about $6.50, and the entire process typically takes about 30 seconds.
Although Farmer’s Fridge doesn’t market itself as a health-food brand, Saunders wants customers to understand that eating healthy can be easy, affordable, and delicious. It’s about providing a convenient and tasty option rather than focusing solely on health.
Do we think Farmers Fridge is just a fun concept? Or is it the start of a new innovation of how we can all conveniently get fresher, healthier foods?