milk vending machine

pjm2203

Member
Trade
I’ll bite...

a vending machine for meat and eggs is interesting. A lot of people are shopping online and having deliveries without picking their own meat off the shelf so I can see it working. But it would need a lot of advertising and marketing as you don’t have the draw of a farm shop to browse around.
What ball park figure are we talking for one?
Anything from £6k upwards. We have installed our first machines in Chester in the last month and it’s getting fantastic reaction. 32” touchscreen control system that runs a video of the farm and its products which we put together for them and then individual product images with full descriptions. Lockers can also be linked to the machines to vend anything from eggs to 25kg bags of spuds.
The investment needed compared to that of setting up and manning a shop is a huge difference.
There are several keep it local businesses supporting these kind of activities that would help anyone too

Everyone must have at least one reasonable size village nearby. Contact the local Parish Council, tell them what you can offer and at what cost and I would be very surprised if anyone says no to the idea.

It ticks every healthy, local, community box going!!
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Anything from £6k upwards. We have installed our first machines in Chester in the last month and it’s getting fantastic reaction. 32” touchscreen control system that runs a video of the farm and its products which we put together for them and then individual product images with full descriptions. Lockers can also be linked to the machines to vend anything from eggs to 25kg bags of spuds.
The investment needed compared to that of setting up and manning a shop is a huge difference.
There are several keep it local businesses supporting these kind of activities that would help anyone too

Everyone must have at least one reasonable size village nearby. Contact the local Parish Council, tell them what you can offer and at what cost and I would be very surprised if anyone says no to the idea.

It ticks every healthy, local, community box going!!
Our parish Council owns the shop.....can't say they would be keen!
 

pjm2203

Member
Trade
Our parish Council owns the shop.....can't say they would be keen!
If you speak to them about their costs and what a totally automatic vending machine could do to increase their sales and reduce staffing costs then you would have a very strong argument
 

pjm2203

Member
Trade
My neighbours putting one in , I see trouble afoot
The vast majority of the farm vending sector are using 10 year old plus machines that have been refurbished several times already and were never designed to sell what farmers want to sell
 

pjm2203

Member
Trade
They let the shop out.
Use local poly bottle supplier
It’s like other have said on here. You need to make your product unique in some way. It could just be making the public aware of you or your animals or keeping it fresh and informative. Loads of great videos on You Tube to learn how to do this. If you have the ability then making your own butter, cream, ice cream is relatively simple and it doesn’t take much to start getting the public chatting. Find your local Facebook page and start raising you and your businesses profile
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
It’s like other have said on here. You need to make your product unique in some way. It could just be making the public aware of you or your animals or keeping it fresh and informative. Loads of great videos on You Tube to learn how to do this. If you have the ability then making your own butter, cream, ice cream is relatively simple and it doesn’t take much to start getting the public chatting. Find your local Facebook page and start raising you and your businesses profile
I don't disagree but you stated ask local council to site, can't see them going for it in shop tbh.

Also vending machine suck up time, know someone with some and its a full time job.!
 

pjm2203

Member
Trade
I don't disagree but you stated ask local council to site, can't see them going for it in shop tbh.

Also vending machine suck up time, know someone with some and its a full time job.!
I defy anyone to install a new vending system with a range of farm produced items as well as a range of locally sourced cheeses, cakes, baked goods chutnies etc and not make profit from it

I visit farms almost daily to deal with old vending equipment and it’s no surprise that farmers get tied up in keeping them going. These machines were never designed to do what they are being asked to do and the majority are more than 10 years old and wearing out fast. The future of automated retailing is coming and the UK is 2 to 3 years behind the technology and one of the perfect matches for these machines is farm shops. Vending machines selling meat, dairy, veg, fruit etc are huge all over the world and we need to see what is out there and benefit from its abilities
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
I defy anyone to install a new vending system with a range of farm produced items as well as a range of locally sourced cheeses, cakes, baked goods chutnies etc and not make profit from it

I visit farms almost daily to deal with old vending equipment and it’s no surprise that farmers get tied up in keeping them going. These machines were never designed to do what they are being asked to do and the majority are more than 10 years old and wearing out fast. The future of automated retailing is coming and the UK is 2 to 3 years behind the technology and one of the perfect matches for these machines is farm shops. Vending machines selling meat, dairy, veg, fruit etc are huge all over the world and we need to see what is out there and benefit from its abilities

So you've gone from milk vending to full on retail and its challenges.
Just as well to open a shop?
 

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
If your able to sell a large proportion of your produce at much higher margins through your £200 fridge then your a better man than me
Then maybe I should be on here selling 'my system' :unsure: .
The problem is there's no need for anyone else. It's really so simple that everyone who uses it, both customer and suppliers (ourselves) reaps the benefits.
More than happy to discuss with anyone wanting to operate a similar concept to add value to their farm produce, or simply provide a service in the local village.
But be warned, you may have to invest £200 in a fridge!
 

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
I defy anyone to install a new vending system with a range of farm produced items as well as a range of locally sourced cheeses, cakes, baked goods chutnies etc and not make profit from it

I visit farms almost daily to deal with old vending equipment and it’s no surprise that farmers get tied up in keeping them going. These machines were never designed to do what they are being asked to do and the majority are more than 10 years old and wearing out fast. The future of automated retailing is coming and the UK is 2 to 3 years behind the technology and one of the perfect matches for these machines is farm shops. Vending machines selling meat, dairy, veg, fruit etc are huge all over the world and we need to see what is out there and benefit from its abilities
Don't quite get why you're so hooked on new technology solving all the problems. This stuff must be paid for. All you're doing is adding cost into the food chain rather than value.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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