Business View - February 2016 89
“They all go through a discovery process that’s com-
prehensive, in depth, and very detailed. It takes a mini-
mum of about three weeks,” Yates continues. “They
go through on online sales portal that has five doors –
behind every door is about ten to twelve pages of con-
tent, videos, downloads – really the A to Z of healthy
vending, so that by the time they get through it all,
they really are well-versed enough to decide if this is
something they want to do and we are also well-versed
enough about them in regards to whether or not we
want to choose them as franchisees and partner with
them. By the time they get to the end of the process,
we know they’re a good fit; they know they’re a good
fit. And in the last 18 months, since we implemented
this new program, we have attracted a fantastic as-
sortment of pro-active franchisees.
“We generally appoint, on average, between six to
eight new franchises a month. Our goal, right now is to
find less franchisees who actually buy more machines
from us; it’s easier for us to run that type of business
versus a lot of franchisees with a lot of machines,” he
explains. Nonetheless, Yates would like to award up to
a hundred new franchises a year.
Fresh Healthy Vending also recently launched a sister
product/service to its portfolio. “It’s a product called
a Micro Market,” says Yates. “It’s a mini-market/kiosk
that sits in a breakroom of a corporate office, or a car
dealership, or a hotel lobby, and allows people ac-
cess to fresh foods. We use an ILS (Instrument Land-
ing System) operating software that allows people to
grab a product, scan it, swipe it with a credit card, or
pay using their mobile phone. It gives them access to
sandwiches, salads, wraps, and healthy meals. So we
launched that as something that we operate in San Di-
ego; we have fifty of them on the ground that we own,
and we’re also franchising that concept as well.”
Helping the company achieve its goals is its recent
partnership with the American Diabetes Association
and its initiative called “Wellness Lives Here.” “That’s
giving us access to corporate America and the loca-
tions that the ADA has already aligned itself with,”
Yates says. “Fortune 500 and 1,000 companies and
beyond that.” In addition, Fresh Healthy Vending is fur-
ther encouraged by the national Healthy, Hunger-Free
Kids Act of 2010, which placed a prohibition on high-
calorie junk food in school vending machines, as well
as First Lady, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” program
for battling childhood obesity.
In addition to the recent launch of an expanded in-
ternational franchise program that will allow Fresh
Healthy Vending to distribute healthy snacks and
drinks to a larger portion of the world, Yates says that
his company is also planning to introduce several new
franchise concepts over the next few years, all operat-
ing under one corporate umbrella.
Meanwhile, the company that offers refrigerated ma-
chines filled with healthy drinks and snacks has be-
come the Number One Healthy Vending Franchisor
in the U.S. and the largest healthy vending franchise
in the world. It was recently awarded Entrepreneur
Magazine’ title of Top New Franchise of 2015, and Inc.
Magazine’s choice as one of America’s Fastest Grow-
ing Companies on its “Inc. 500” list.
If the health food vending revolution’s goal is simply
to get healthier snacks and drinks into the hands and
bodies of children and adults in an effort to combat
the problem of obesity and its attendant health risks,
then kudos to Fresh Healthy Vending. And viva la revo-
lución!
PREFERRED VENDORS
Automated Merchandising Systems (AMS)
- www.
amsvendors.com
FRANCHISE
