Keeping College Kids on Campus With Better Vending Solutions
Serving the needs of a large student body is a tremendous challenge for college administrators. Most of these students are likely living away from home for the first time, and they are trying to adjust to life as adults while juggling difficult coursework and other pursuits.
Providing what college kids need right on campus is a great benefit for any school to offer. This includes food services, as college students generally aren’t cooking for themselves. Finding meals and snacks outside of the dorm is a daily chore, and while a variety of food service options will be required to serve an entire school, campus vending solutions can play an important role in this picture.
It Starts With Convenience
If the college kids on your campus are going to engage with the vending solutions you provide, convenience will be a key factor. If vending machines in colleges are hard to reach or use, the students will simply turn to other options.
The placement of your vending machines throughout campus is critical. Locating machines in existing high-traffic areas will allow them to be used without anyone having to change their normal habits or patterns. When the machines are added to convenient locations, you should see quick adoption by a meaningful portion of the student body.
Quality Matters
Improving your on-campus vending means not only making machines available but also carefully considering what is stocked in those machines. While there continues to be plenty of space for the traditional snack items that have been found in vending machines for generations, the growing demand for fresh, healthy options should also be considered.
With our vending programs, InReach makes fresh variety possible in your machines. We work with you to develop a custom plan for what should be stocked in the machines around campus based on their locations and user base. Then, using analytics from data gathered as the machines are used, we can continually adjust the product mix to get even better results.
A Modern Touch
Young college students demand high-tech features in anything they interact with regularly—including vending machines. Gone are the days of trying to flatten out wrinkled dollar bills to feed into the machine to buy a snack (only for said snack to get stuck in those taunting coils). Your students will want to be able to use the payment methods they employ for everything else, meaning at the very least using a debit or credit card, but more likely, using a contactless payment app on their phone.
When you work with InReach, you can be sure your vending program is going to be modern and strongly influenced by today’s best technology. Touchscreen interfaces make the machines approachable and easy to use, and when paired with the various payment options offered, they offer an experience that will resonate with your young audience.
Contact InReach to Learn More
Is it a good idea to put a vending machine in a school? Yes—as long as it is done correctly. Finding the right partner to add school vending machines on your campus is the key to success in this area. InReach is ready to help you create a custom plan that will properly serve your students for years to come. Take a moment to get in touch today to get started.