Cook vending machine meals to launch in UK

Premium frozen ready meal brand Cook has announced a partnership with vending machine operator Mother, which will see it launch 15 machines stocked with its products.

Cook says it plans to roll out the machines across offices, residential schemes, hospitals, travel hubs and educational institutions, which will “help to fuel a better-fed and better-performing workforce”.

The company says all vending machine items will be sold as ‘complete meals’ that are suitable for microwaving, with vegetarian and low-calorie options, starting from £4.75. Cook said these would include a combination of bestselling meals and seasonal dishes including sticky soy glazed beef, chicken casserole, and portobello mushroom risotto.

Each machine can offer 15 different options and stock up to 140 meals at a time.

Chief Sales Officer Chris Portwood said: “The launch of our vending machines comes at an important time for the food and beverage industry, which has struggled to provide employees and residents with regular healthy meals in recent years due to an unprecedented and unpredictable shift in working patterns due to the rise in remote/flexible working.

“Helping to provide healthy and affordable options to the UK’s workforce, our new service will help to reduce food wastage and support companies trying to improve the health and wellbeing of their teams by giving access to more healthy convenient food options.”

Cook plans to launch a minimum of 15 machines this year as it hones its proposition and starts to work through manufacturing timelines and requirements from prospective partners.

“To begin with, the focus will be large offices with requirements for out-of-hours working, residential accommodation, student accommodation and universities with a captive on-site audience of over 500,” Mr Portwood explained.

Phil Davison, founder & CEO of Mother, said the company is “thrilled” to be supporting Cook on its new venture, helping to develop an entirely new revenue stream and marketing channel for its business.

“Using our state of-the-art software platform, we’ve developed what we believe is the UK’s first truly smart frozen vending machine,” he said. “Our machines have all been specifically built with the customer in mind, creating highly engaging and simplified automated retail experiences, designed to build customer loyalty and trust.

“The interactive user interface, cashless and mobile payments, product filtering, nutritional information, product animations and special offers all contribute to what customers are demanding nowadays – a modern-day digital retail experience.”

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