Debuting this year at Eu'Vend were the "Vending Star" awards for the best "Vending Innovation". The first-place winner of the Vending Star award is the company Jakob Gerhardt GmbH, which was honoured for developing a hot beverages vending machine that not only prepares superb hot drink specialities including the wildly popular latte macchiato, but also dispenses the drinks in trendy coffee-to-go cups complete with lids - the world's smallest "coffee shop".
Vending machines that sell everyday items (i.e. foodstuffs) are regularly redesigned in line with technical advances, consumer behaviour, and the needs of companies to provide employees, customers and visitors with food and drinks at any time of day or night.
In order to promote the development of innovative ideas and to generate momentum in the vending machine industry the Vending Innovation Award "Vending Star" was presented for the first time during Eu'Vend 2007 (20th to 22nd September).
The entries submitted covered the following four segments of the vending industry:
- Technical equipment (vending machines, payment systems)
- Devices for supporting and optimizing the operation of vending machines (e. g. data readers, transport devices, IT solutions, advertising materials, functional tools)
- Concepts for new vending business ideas
- Products for sale (or preparation) in vending machines
The following is a list of the award nominees and their innovations in alphabetical order:
- brand on fire Werbeagentur: Rotating display unit as an advertising attachment for vending machines
- Coges S.P.A.: Sealable tube cassette with documentation of opening procedures
- Jakob Gerhardt GmbH: Coffee-to-go hot beverage machine, complete with cup lids
- Hipp GmbH & Co. Vertrieb KG: Sugar free organic fruits and organic fruit & yogurt in a jar
- Mictrotronic AG: Micropay universal payment and billing platform
- Nestlé FoodServices GmbH: Coffee vending machine solution for travel coaches
- Siegfried Roesler GmbH: Tool management system for managing and dispensing tools
- SandenVendo GmbH: Pouchlink system; post-pack vending machine, in which products are dispensed into resealable pouches
- Satro GmbH: Chai tea / trendy beverage from China
- servomat steigler GmbH: Servomood light sheets to create the perfect atmosphere
- Sielaff GmbH & Co. KG: Barista Uno fully automatic self-service coffee machine
- SuKulTur: "Schöner Lesen" magazine available for one euro from a vending machine
The Vending Innovation Award is an initiative of the German Vending Association (BDV), the fair's sponsor as well as Koelnmesse - the organiser of the international Eu'Vend trade fair. |
