Category: Healthy Break Room Options

Employees value their break room perks. Whether it’s flexible working hours, professional development opportunities, gym memberships, working remotely, or meals or catered food, perks can have a big impact on an employee’s lifestyle quality. Perks also create a positive return on investment for employers. Lisa Oyler, human resources director at Access Development explained, “Perks are about creating a culture and environment where we hope we can find that work-life balance. If employees are happy at work, they’re going to produce more. This leads to higher retention.”

A cost-effective employee perk that is highly valued is the break room. But it isn’t just any type of break room. This break room should support community building, be aesthetically pleasing, let their employees know that employee well-being is important, and offer a variety of healthy and traditional snacks, food, and beverages.

Community

According to a recent survey by Clutch, a B2B research, ratings, and reviews company, “about half (47 percent) of part- or full-time employees value a community atmosphere in the place where they work.” A common way that groups of individuals build a sense of community is to share a meal, and that includes Orlando and Central Florida employees. The office break room provides a location where that can occur.

In order to draw employees into the break room, the space must be aesthetically pleasing and welcoming.

Aesthetics

More than 60 percent of employees surveyed by Clutch want a pleasant, modern, and comfortable workspace. The problem arises when only 47 percent of those employees actually have a space they find agreeable. This discrepancy should be concerning to Orlando and Central Florida employers.

Creating an aesthetically pleasing break room can vary from a few small design changes to a complete overhaul. Features that appeal to most employees include increasing the amount of natural lighting, updating fixtures, incorporating aspects of nature such as plants, wood, or water, and adding new places to socialize or take a nap.   

Current and Future Employees

A transformed break room creates a community atmosphere and helps employees connect with each other. It also draws in potential new hires. Break room perks like micro-markets and pantry service in inviting spaces help Orlando and Central Florida employers build a stronger relationship with current employees as well as show new hires that their quality of life matters.

Unfortunately, two out of five employers don’t offer any employee perks. Use this knowledge to your advantage — customize your Orlando and Central Florida break room so it meets your employees needs. Whether it’s adding office coffee service or healthy vending machines, or designing a completely new space, The Vending Station can help. For more information, call us at (407) 891.7632. We look forward to hearing from you.

The answer appears to be nothing. Innovative vending machines found throughout the world sell, rent, and build a wide variety of products including laptops. Since October 2017, over 500 students at Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, MI have rented laptops from a vending machine. While renting a laptop from a vending machine is new in Michigan, there are at least 31 other vending machines in the U.S. and four outside of the U.S. that rent laptops.

A laptop is only one of the many unique products besides snacks and beverages that can be found in vending machines all over the world.  

Bicycles: In a number of cities, both inside the U.S. and abroad, there are automated docking stations or vending machines where a user can rent a RFID (Radio-frequency identification) bike. Once the rider has arrived at their destination, they return the bicycle to another docking station where someone else can rent it.

Electronics: Vending machines that sell electronics are usually located in airports. These machines provide potential customers with a way to purchase items that they might have forgotten or didn’t realize they needed such as headphones, chargers, phones, sim cards, laptops, or mobile hotspots.

3D Printing: While less common, 3D printing vending machines are often found near large universities. The user saves a design on a usb drive or sim card, places the card in the machine, and the machine carves out the model in 3D. University students in Italy took it one step farther and figured out how to convert plastic bottles into smartphone cases using a 3D printing vending machine.

Cars: How about buying a car from a vending machine? And yes, the car is really in the machine. These vending machines, however, are multiple stories high and can hold hundreds of cars. The customer uses an app to choose the vehicle that they want, and the vending machine delivers it.

The vending industry has also benefited from innovative vending machine designs such as the micro-market and healthy vending machines.

Micro-Market: According to the National Automatic Merchandising Association or NAMA, “a micro market is a self-checkout retail food establishment that replaces a bank of vending machines.” It includes an open rack display and/or reach-in refrigerated coolers and/or freezers that holds products with a UPC bar code or an RFID tag. The Orlando and Central Florida employee pays for their purchase at an unattended kiosk or payment system that is never closed.  

Healthy Vending Machines: Finding a healthy snack or beverage while on the go has gotten easier with the inclusion of vending machines that sell healthy products. Whether your Orlando and Central Florida employees need to grab a snack before a meeting or are looking for a quick, healthy meal, healthy vending machines provide a variety of options 24-hours per day.

Are you ready to create a high-value break room with innovative vending technology? Micro-markets and healthy vending machines are just a couple of the services that The Vending Station provides. Upgrade your break room to create the ultimate space with coffee service, pantry service, and a variety of other options. Contact The Vending Station at (407) 891.7632 to learn more.

Chocolate, cheese, and cereal have more in common than Orlando and Central Florida employees might realize. All three represent food trends that will impact future healthy vending options. As consumers seek out healthier packaged snack, food, and beverage options in the office break room and at home, manufacturers are responding by developing new choices to meet those needs.

Chocolate’s Dual Purpose

Times have changed. Chocolate is no longer seen only as a sweet treat that should be enjoyed sparingly. According to David Sprinkle, Research Director for Packaged Facts, “Chocolate companies are increasingly jumping on the better-for-you snacking trend, which leverages frequency of snacking by Americans with a balanced approach to nutrition that explores realistic options rather than a more dogmatic philosophy that forbids snacks or sweets altogether.”

These changes, however, are about more than traditional milk chocolate. Innovative companies are giving “old” chocolate treats a makeover. New dark chocolate products satisfy cravings and deliver quality nutrition without loading the Orlando and Central Florida consumer with sugar. The key is to offer new, high-cocoa content, low unhealthy-fat, and low-sugar, chocolate snacks with other healthy vending options in the office break room.

Cheese’s New Identity

To meet other snacking and on-the-go trends, cheese-makers are developing new cheese options in special cuts and sizes. Orlando and Central Florida employees are also looking for portable cheese snacks in easy-to-use packaging.

Cheese comes in a variety of flavors and nutrition as it contains calcium, protein, vitamin B12, zinc, magnesium, vitamins A, D and K, good bacteria, and antioxidants. But, watch out for choices with higher amounts of calories, salt, and saturated fat. Softer cheeses have fewer calories than hard cheeses because of the smaller amount of fat  To enjoy better-for-you cheese options look for ones that are fresh, organic, and made from healthier milk as well as low in fat and sodium.

Cereal’s Expanding Role

The days of eating cereal only for breakfast are gone. Orlando and Central Florida employees are consuming cereal at all times of the day. General Mills recently found that “an estimated 30 percent of all US cereal consumption now comes in the form of snacking —triple the level of a decade ago.”

New cereal choices include a variety of flavors such as pumpkin, cinnamon, chocolate, coffee, and mocha. The type of ingredients have changed too. “Healthier” grains including quinoa, multigrain, oat, flaxseed, hemp, chia, pumpkin seed, and pea protein are a few of the options available. Cereal can also be enjoyed in the form of an on-the-go cereal bar, as a topping on a mid-morning yogurt snack, or as an after dinner treat.

Which of these healthy vending options are already available in your Orlando and Central Florida office break room? Whether you want to add one or all three, The Vending Station can help. We offer customized vending solutions including pantry services, micro-markets, and vending machines. To start the next step, call us at (407) 891.7632. We look forward to hearing from you.