There's never been a better time to be a vending machine, as long as you're dispensing organic foods and snacks, that is.
As one of its final acts in a busy lame-duck session, Congress last month passed a law that requires officials to set nutritional standards for all foods sold in schools, including vending machines. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 could be a boon for the rapidly growing $26.5 billion organic food industry.
"We're at the beginning of a major movement in vending," says Jolly Backer, founder of Fresh Healthy Vending, a San Diego startup that sells organic vending franchises. "It's out with the junk food and in with the healthy food." Vending machines that dispense snacks such as organic yogurt and granola bars, gluten-free snacks and fresh fruit will be rolling into schools, fitness clubs and office buildings. Often they will be replacing machines that have been around since the 1970s dispensing sugary sodas and snacks stuffed with trans-fats, high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.
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