British Vendin.g - Generally Quite
Different In Character To Canadian Vending
- Runs Into Similar Problems
Vending Operations, wherever they are carried out,
seem to be subjected to the same problems and Ops
seem to be very much the same the world over. In
Britain, the Vending Industry there has been slated
before Health Authorities. Criticisms by the Managing
Director of a large British Food Service Firm, which
also operates Vending, run to - Poor. .state of .equip-
ment, poor product, poor service and poor water fed
into drink machines.
The British Vending Industry functions on a some-
what different plane to that in Canada or in the
U.S.A. On this side of the Atlantic it is the main run
by food service and operating firms from huge corpora-
tions down to one man shows. In the British Isles, there
are these but, in addition, there are also a great many
machines run by locations themselves either with their
own or rented equipment. For Canadians to begin to
understand how this works, it is necessary to realize
that Canada's largest single employer, General Motors
in Oshawa, with its 12,000-odd workers, is a rela-
tively small firm in Britain or on the Continent.
There are hundreds of firms that large and larger and
countless ones employing 1,000 people upwards. As a
legacy of the last war in particular, but also because
of more active and older Trade Unions, socialistically
orientated over a longer time than those here, British
factories have operated their own Executive, staff and
workers' canteens for decades. Over the years they
have built up facilities and experienced catering staffs
and in many cases a single factory catering Division
can make some of our larger Vending Operators look
ridiculous in sales and food turnover. Moreover, sev-
eral of these companies even ran farms to supply
their own raw materials for the kitchens, in addition
to which, they could, because of their size and de-
mands, command excellent prices when buying. In
addition, these operations have usually proven quite
profitable. After all, with so much going for them
and large "captive audiences" why shouldn't they?
Rising wages and all round costs have created labour
problems there as elsewhere so, catering and feeding
divisions have turned to Vending to replace and aug-
ment their long standing manual services. This has
meant large numbers of location owned or rented
but certainly Operated, Vending Machines.
In cases where equipment is rented, the renting
company usually carries out maintenance and repairs
and corrects se1,i ous malfunctions; Operators only fill
and collect. Rental firms have, it seems, proven very
32
weak in keeping their equipment going once it is in-
stalled.
All this has taken place in little more than the past
five years. Even today, Industrial Vending does not
approach the percentage of total "Works" or plants
it .does in .C.anad!l or the U.S., but, it is gro_wing fasJ.
Vending Operators on the other hand are also rela-
tively new and inexperienced be they Vending firms
or divisions of large caterers. So, the situation there is
quite different to here.
But, the troubles and problems aren't so different.
It seems that in many Industrial locations there is a
tendency to look upon Vending machines as "plant"
rather than as a means to an end, that of dispensing
food and drink. As a result service is poor. This is
further enhanced by a serious lack of people trained
to understand the problems of Vending. And, this ap-
plies not only to attendants but also servicing per-
sonnel. Apparently - a great many machines are
scruffy, unreliable and the subject of poor service
which results not only in frequent breakdowns but
also of machines being "sold out" or mechanically
out of action when needed or for too long periods.
As everywhere, sloppy or greedy Operators have
been selling inferior product, weak drinks, wrong
temperature drinks, unappetizing and mingy sand-
wiches and other foods. Some of this has been traced
to bad water being used in hot and cold drinks.
All these things have got the public somewhat fed
up with Vending with the result that confidence in it
on the part of people has been lost. This is evident
from the fact that although there is no general reces-
sion elsewhere in Britain, Vending is not being main-
tained. New installations were down by nearly one
quarter in 1969 by comparison with 1968.
To correct this state of affairs, the British Industry
is going to have to take ahold of itself. To this end, the
country's Department of Health together with the
Automatic Vending Association of G.B. had got out
a code to cover the construction and operation of
Vending Equipment. Quality control of product and
intensive and complete training of Operating and Ser-
vicing personnel would have to receive a great deal
more attention in the future than in the past. This
was now being recognized and when it came to pass
and things improved, Vending would again go ahead
but not until then.