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What is RSS?Friday 23 April 2004
Lay summary of the healthier drinks vending pilot study.
Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the economic viability of healthier drinks vending provision in schools.
Coverage: Twelve schools participated, three from each of the following areas: Devon, Hertfordshire, Cumbria and Pembrokeshire. Schools were chosen to reflect both urban and rural locations and to offer an appropriate mix of size, area and character.
Approach: The study took a ‘whole school’ approach. In each school a small working party was set up including senior management, curriculum staff, catering personnel, and representatives from the student council. This group discussed the project and influenced the key decisions taken.
Machines: Two types (six of each) were used to assess their efficiency and appropriateness. Second hand Zanussi ‘carousel’ vendors and Dixie Narco BevMax 'bottle and can’ vendors. The carousel is more flexible in accepting different product shape and size, the bottle and can vendor has much greater product capacity. In the Zanussi machines the most popular items were:
In the Dixie Narco machines the favourites were:
In the schools completing the project about 70,000 units of product were sold, more than 35% of these were milk or milk products – around 25,000 in less than six months.
Back to topThe results in commercial terms were that nine schools completed the project. After wage costs and a machine lease charge had been taken from gross profit, over the course of the project, two made a small loss (over about 20 weeks), two made a small profit (over 10 and 19 weeks, respectively), three made respectable profits ranging from £300 – £520 (over 10, 15 and 15 weeks, respectively), and the last two achieved profits of £863 and £1283 (over 18 and 24 weeks, respectively).
The variation in time over which profits were calculated is due to problems encountered by individual schools during operation, which affected periods of data collection.
Analysis of the results has shown that the overarching factors influencing the success of healthy vending are primarily practical issues and how the school deals with these. School size, geographical location (rural, rural town, or urban) and the degree of deprivation (such as percentage of free school meals), appear to have little bearing on the profits ultimately achieved. However, these conclusions are drawn from a relatively small sample size and thus can only be applied to this study. It is true however, as illustrated in this study, that healthy profits can be achieved at schools with a relatively high deprivation score.
Back to topIf just one in five of the 5,000 plus secondary school headteachers in England and Wales placed a single healthier drinks machine into their school we would see approximately 14 million additional units of milk, milk products, pure juices and waters sold to children every year. All the schools who completed the project, demonstrated that children will buy the range of healthier drinks products offered them from vending machines - milk products, pure juices and waters - and they described such vending as, ‘an important part of the food service’, and ‘of benefit to the whole school’. But in the schools that were successful, what made the difference?
Characteristics of a successful school
Location of machines:
In the dining area or a place very close by to make filling/maintaining/supervising as easy as possible to ensure service continuity.
Machine/product harmony: A match is achieved between the capability and characteristics of the machine and the product sourced to fill it. There are many different types of machine with differing characteristics. Some have high capacity, others greater flexibility and so on. It is vital that considerable care is taken to ensure that the products and the machine are compatible.
Staff commitment: At both school and management levels the school and the caterer recognises that vending is an extension of the counter service and gives it similar priority in terms of ensuring service continuity and reliability. This happens when there is recognition of the benefits such a vending service can provide, i.e. benefits to profits and quality of service combined with a movement towards sound educational practice.
Customer care/best educational practice: Pupils are involved in the discussion about the service as part of a ‘whole school ‘ approach, so it is designed with their tastes and needs in mind, links consistently to the messages in the taught curriculum, and they feel a part of the decision-making process.
Monitoring: Good records are maintained to enable sound judgements to be made on the operation of the vending machine and its impact on other parts of the service.
FSA toolkit: A practical guidance document will be produced by the FSA which will consider the points above and other aspects of healthier drinks vending in schools needed in order to deliver a successful, commercially sound service.
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