August 15th, 2019
By Jeff Adair, Editor

 After dipping his toe in the specialty coffee industry with a coffee shop in 2010, Jeff Osburn, a foodservice industry veteran, took a stab at coffee service when he had the opportunity to provide coffee service for a supermarket. He quickly recognized the challenge of providing a high-quality coffee service economically, given the cost of labor.

Osburn naturally began exploring self-service options, and he became intrigued with brewing technology. In the process of researching the opportunity for three years, he began exploring a self-serve, single-cup brewer with a bean grinder and two flavor options.

The single-cup brewer that Osburn initially explored produced good American coffee, but it did not use fresh milk and it did not have the correct tamping pressure, grind size or temperature to produce real espresso. Osburn was not satisfied with the customer experience, so he continued studying brewing technology for another three years.

The Prosper from Seaga Manufacturing provides vending operators proven stack technology capable of vending glass bottles, square PET and slim cans within a single, attractive vender. The Prosper meets the increasing demand for non-carbonated beverages and optimizes floor space without compromising product variety.

The Prosper uses a new vibration-controlled delivery system with a unique dual delivery deck, enabling 18 selections and allowing a product range of 8-ounce to 20-ounce beverages from a standard size machine. With MDB and DEX protocols incorporated, The Prosper can integrate with the latest technology in payment and telemetry operations like NFC that allows for Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung, along with other digital payment options.

Grasshopper Kiosks LLC , a provider of automated retail solutions, has introduced a digital shopping kiosk for CBD products that offers management software, provides age and identity verification, integrates with major point-of-sale software and complies with state and local government regulations for the rapidly growing CBD industry.

The automated retailing solution offers refrigerated climate control and additional options for customized brand wraps. The machine can be stocked with a dispensary's most popular items, creating a "fast lane checkout" for customers.

"The machine recognizes the customer and verifies their identity,” said Jason Rosenberg, vice president of sales at Grasshopper.

Yoke Payments has announced an integrated partnership with Group C to design and install 500 Yoke micro markets by 2020. The partnership will allow Group C – an independent vending company in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – to expand its micro market offerings and create custom market solutions for their vast client base.

Currently, Group C is operating 100 newly opened markets with Yoke’s technology and point-of-sale system in place, with another 150 markets scheduled to open by the end of 2019. An additional 250 markets are expected to open by Q4 of 2020.

The partnership allows Group C to better serve its client base by making it profitable to replace standard vending with a small market on every floor of every building. In the past there were very limited options at locations with under 150 people, but now micro markets are their lead product for locations of any size.

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