Farmer Fridge’s vending machines will be serving healthy foods that include salads, wraps and sandwiches, nut bowls, snacks and drinks, and protein meals. The price will range from $5 to $8. The entire menu can be checked on the startup’s website.
These meals will greatly benefit busy people. College students, doctors, working professionals and school going kids will be served with food made from the fresh ingredients.
Farmer’s Fridge will have a chef on board to constantly experiment with the ingredients and spice up the menu based on customers’ feedback. Every morning, the food will be prepared and restocked by a large team of dedicated workers.
The meals are prepared in Farmer’s Fridge’s own kitchen. Individuals who have been lucky enough to try their food have had an overall positive experience and really liked the food.
Very little food goes to waste, approximately 5 percent; thanks to Fridge’s food allocation algorithms. This design will calculate how much food should be allocated in each vending machine. The leftovers are sent over to Greater Chicago Food Depository.
The Food Depository provides food to around 700 shelter homes, soup kitchens and pantries.
Luke Sanders, the founder and CEO told TechCrunch, “The hypothesis for the business is that it’s been done for ATMs, it’s been done for movies, and those things have nothing to do with each other.”
“So the only connection would be that consumers generally want things that are faster and cheaper and more convenient, as long as they don’t have to sacrifice any quality from the experience.”
Sanders further added that movie remains the same when you rented it from a kiosk stand, but with food, it’s a whole another story. He and his team were looking to find a way for technology to replace restaurant experience.
He questioned whether the restaurant atmosphere will always be one step ahead of their business model. So far the business model is working without any hiccups. Since launching in 2013, Farmer’s Fridge’s popularity has skyrocketed.
The company has installed 200 vending machines (which they like to refer to as fridges) in Milwaukee and Chicago. They have placed them in areas that are most likely to attract people.
These areas include airports, pharmacies, hospitals, general stores and even at the Amazon store in Chicago.
Every Fridge gets restocked at least 5 times in a week. The fridges at the airport get stocked at least seven days a week. Their source of income is dependent on revenue shares and subsidized accounts.
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Farm’s Fridge’s accompanying app tells users the location of the nearest Fridge, what meals are stocked in it, and the option to book food ahead of time. The Fridge itself is a tech marvel, as it has cloud connectivity, a Graphical User Interface and runs firmware updates consistently.
The company is looking to hire 70 personnel by the end of the year.
